


Oh No, She's Hot

by Small_Nerd



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, divergence but also assorted minor tweaks, makoto you useless lesbian, not that futaba's better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-07-20 19:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 20,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16143881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Nerd/pseuds/Small_Nerd
Summary: Makoto Niijima and Futaba Sakura, each concerned about the transfer student set to become part of their lives, run into each other while trying to take his measure. Sparks fly, and so much changes.ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE





	1. Meet Cute

Makoto Niijima was a careful young woman, not fond of dealing with unknowns. Naturally, when she heard that a convicted criminal would be transferring to her high school, Makoto had to know who she would be dealing with. And so, she was on her way to the address where the transfer would be living to ask the head of the household what his new ward was like, because Makoto was reasonable.

 

Futaba Sakura was a careful young woman, not fond of dealing with unknowns. Naturally, when she heard that a convicted criminal would be moving in to her guardian's coffee shop, Futaba had to know who she would be dealing with. And so, she was on her way to Leblanc to bug the place so she could keep an eye on the interloper, because Futaba was reasonable.

 

Unfortunately for the two of them, they were heading to Cafe Leblanc at the same time, and a small pileup ensued. If a passerby stuck around to watch the carnage, they would have seen Makoto and Futaba get up, look at each other, and freeze. After several moments, during which she very visibly gathered her courage, Futaba began stammering incoherently.

 

"I, uh, there's- there's- you, uh... _I'm sorry, pretty lady!_ "

 

"Pretty lady?" Makoto asked herself, eyes widening as she felt her face warm up. "Do you really- Hey, wait!"

 

Makoto could shout as much as she liked, but the cute redhead had already fled the scene. And Makoto was much too out of it from a cute girl saying nice things to her to be sure which direction the glasses girl had gone.

 

_It looked like she was heading for Cafe Leblanc too,_ Makoto thought.  _Maybe she'll come back later. Then I'll figure out what she wanted. _And_ I'll tell her how cute she is and see how _ she  _likes it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the first proper shipfic I've written! Please be gentle. This is gonna be a series of short scenes, so hopefully I'll be updating quickly and often. We know that Futaba bugged Leblanc at some point, and Makoto seems like the type to ask Sojiro about what Joker's like, so it seemed like a good set-up for a meet cute. As regards Futaba actually being able to speak to someone other than Sojiro at this point, it severely drained her and she spent the rest of the day asleep.


	2. Second Impressions

Makoto came back to Leblanc several times over the next week before finally seeing the redheaded girl again. A week's worth of frustration seeped into her voice as her features involuntarily twisted into a scowl.

 

" _You!_ "

 

Futaba suddenly understood the phrase "deer in the headlights" as the pretty woman she  _definitely_ hadn't been thinking about for days without a pause shouted at her. The most noise she could manage was a strangled "eep!" as she waited for whatever tongue-lashing she was no doubt going to get.

 

"Do you know how long I've been waiting to see you again? Now that I've finally caught you, I need to know: were you being honest when you called me pretty?"

 

The Futaba's Brain Express ground to a halt as any tongue-lashing failed to materialize in place of... _that_ question. She  _really_ didn't know how to answer and now the pretty woman was waiting for her to say something and Futaba's tongue was stuck in her throat and and and...She had to say something  _now_.

 

"Yes...?" That was all she could come up with? Couldn't even make it a statement and not a question? Nice going, Futaba. Now the pretty woman would get mad again and it would just prove again that they were right about how worthless she was and she didn't need more proof coming back to Leblanc was a mistake even if she needed to watch out for Sojiro- wait, the pretty woman was saying something.

 

"What was that?" Futaba asked.

 

"I said," Makoto told her. "That it's good you were being honest because-" She paused a moment to collect herself. "Because someone as cute as you shouldn't go around telling lies."

 

A dam in Futaba's mind burst, and the laughter came out of her mouth in storms.

 

"What-what shoujo manga did you get a-a line like _that_ from?"

 

Makoto's face flushed as she ~~pouted~~ frowned in disapproval. "I spent  _hours_ figuring out how to say that just right! And you  _are_ cute, even if you go around telling girls that they're pretty and running off like someone's chasing you."

 

Futaba's spine straightened like someone had just stuck an icicle down her shirt. "You really think  _I'm_...cute? Me?"

 

Futaba.exe encountered a fatal error and crashed. Her body pitched over, only for Makoto to catch her and wonder how she'd explain her absence from school.


	3. It Begins

Futaba awoke to the concerned face of the pretty woman (she really needed to learn the woman's name and number, this was getting ridiculous), who was staring at her with what even Futaba could tell was concern.

 

"Are you all right? Is there anything I can do for you?" Makoto asked. This was the first time she'd actually seen someone faint from shock in real life, and she was at a bit of a loss.

 

"Yeah," Futaba said, smirking. "You can tell me your name."

 

Makoto snorted. "Who's the one with lines from a shoujo manga now?"

 

This set the both of them to chuckling sensibly for a few moments before trading names and phone numbers (which Futaba did mainly to have some advance warning if Makoto decided to show up in her neighborhood again), and then Makoto had to leave to have any hope of getting to school on time. She made it, but with only five minutes to spare instead of her usual twenty. After that, not much noteworthy happened until that night, when Makoto suddenly remembered that she never did learn what Futaba was doing at Leblanc. Retrieving her phone, Makoto fired off a text and waited.

 

_NiMakoto: Hi, Futaba. It's Makoto. I was wondering why you were at that cafe. Weren't you worried about missing school?_

 

Just as Makoto was losing hope of an answer, one came.

 

_Tigressofjapan: Lol school. Don't go. No need._

 

Makoto was curious what Futaba meant about not needing to go to school, but she refused to let the obvious deflection go unchallenged.

 

_NiMakoto: Don't think I didn't notice what you're trying. What were you doing at Leblanc?_

 

It was a long time before Makoto got a reply, and she had to wait until she was done brushing her teeth to read Futaba's text.

 

_Tigressofjapan: Dunno know why i'm telling you this but i am. Must be your feminine charms._

 

Makoto paused for a moment to squash the excitement she still felt from being complimented like that, then she continued.

 

_There's a convicted criminal who's gonna be staying in the attic of leblanc and i wanted to bug the place to keep an eye on him. The owner's my guardian so it's cool. So what were YOU doing there, huh? You weren't just hoping to get some of this hotness, i'm pretty sure._

 

Smirking at the last part, Makoto considered the words she was reading. Bugging a building if you weren't law enforcement was  _probably_ illegal, but since Futaba said she was related to the person whose building she was bugging, Makoto decided to leave that matter alone for the moment. She always had the texts as evidence if she needed them.

 

_NiMakoto: That convicted criminal you mentioned is going to be attending my school. I'm the student council president, so it's my responsibility to keep a lookout for potential troublemakers. I was hoping the owner of Leblanc could tell me about the person I'd be dealing with._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Np, i got a look at his record. Assaulted some guy, not sure who. Name's been blacked out. Nasty crimeboy said the dude was attacking a woman and he intervened but the woman said no one did anything to her. She's prolly been leaned on to stay quiet, from the look of it. So yeah looks like our nasty crimeboy's actually not that bad. And before you ask i'm just bugging leblanc cause "looks like" isn't "definitely"._

 

Makoto considered that revelation. If he really was innocent, that made things easier to keep him from causing trouble. Then again, Futaba was right that it only  _seemed_ that way. She'd have to wait for the man himself to show up and get his measure.

 

_NiMakoto: Thank you, Futaba. You've helped me out a lot. I need to go to bed now, and I'm sure you're tired too. Good night!_

 

_Tigressofjapan: Sure thing. Night!_

 

* * *

 

 

The next several weeks passed by, with Futaba and Makoto texting each other semi-regularly. Futaba learned far more about English literature than she ever wanted to know, and Makoto learned a great deal about computers. Both got into new styles of music thanks to the other. Over time, they gradually poured out their hearts to each other. The criminal transfer student arrived and proved to be a quiet young man who largely kept to himself and the small circle of Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, and Yuki Mishima. He had a certain friction with Mr. Kamoshida, but Makoto thought nothing of it. Then the Phantom Thieves appeared and engineered Kamoshida's confession of his crimes. Then a famous artist had his own "change of heart" courtesy of the gang. Soon enough, Principal Kobayakawa tasked Makoto with finding the Phantom Thieves and dealing with them. After her meeting with the principal, Makoto got out her phone and sent a text.

 

_NiMakoto: Futaba, I think Nasty Crimeboy and his friends are part of the Phantom Thieves. Can you help me get proof so we can ask them to change your heart?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glossing over a lot of Makoto and Futaba getting close to each other because I doubt anyone's especially interested in reading a lot of fairly repetitive text conversations, and I wanna get to the parts that really start diverging from canon. Also, Futaba's screen name is a reference to her dying her hair from black to orange as well as the Sandokan series of books about a pirate called "the Tiger of Malaysia." As for Makoto knowing a lot about English literature, I imagine her as the type to read a decent amount of books in English to practice her skill with the language. And lastly, I'm not sure what name to use for Joker's secret identity. Please feel free to offer suggestions!


	4. The Plot Thickens

The response to Makoto's text was swift and to the point.

 

_Tigressofjapan: Why?_

 

_NiMakoto: Why what, exactly?_

 

_Tigressofjapan: Why do you think nasty crimeboy and co are the thieves and why do you think proving they are would get them to change my heart?_

 

_NiMakoto: Because Nasty Crimeboy and his friends are some of the people most directly affected by the crimes of the Phantom Thieves' first target, a man who wasn't really known outside of the circle of people connected to Shujin, and I'm pretty sure I heard one of his friends outright say something along the lines of "This is why we became the Phantom Thieves." Also, if we get proof that they're the Phantom Thieves, they'll have to give us their full attention and change your heart ASAP. I'm not leaving anything about your well-being to chance, Futaba._

 

Futaba read over Makoto's message and felt something in her heart stir. Meanwhile, in another world, a young pharaoh decreed some new construction...

 

_Tigressofjapan: Thanks for the nice words. Lemme see what i can do._

_Tigressofjapan: Ok looks like the big phantom thieves websites admin is looking for mods cause irl stuff is getting in the way. Lets see if this guy picks me for the job and ill see what i can get from the sap._

 

_NiMakoto: Do you need to become a moderator? I'd think you could do whatever you needed to the site without that kind of position._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Call it plan b. If you cant get the thieves to play ball ill just give the admin a sob story and ask him to pass it along to the thieves. Dudes gotta know em and theyll listen to a friend if an enemy doesnt convince em. And yeah the sites run by this guy ive seen around before. Decent programmer but nothing special. Think hes a Japanese high schooler too judging by when hes on the site._

 

_NiMakoto: Futaba, you can't use Death Note as a guide to making deductions._

 

_Tigressofjapan: I can and i will :P_

 

_NiMakoto: Anyway, can you track his IP address or something?_

 

_Tigressofjapan: Already did. Somewhere in tokyo. Looks like...shibuya...ish_

 

_NiMakoto: That would fit with the site being run by someone the Phantom Thieves know in real life. Both of their targets lived in the area around Shibuya, so it makes sense to assume they live and/or work in the area._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Cool. So what else exactly do you want me to do? Theres not a lot i can do when youre looking for people who dont actually go online and say 'im a phantom thief'. Well theres plenty of those but im p sure theyre fakes._

 

_NiMakoto: Can you make an app for my phone that I can use to record conversations and send copies to you? I need the evidence to persuade the Thieves, and I need it safe and secure._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Np. Youll get it in a day or two. Now i got a site admin to work over._

 

_NiMakoto: All right, thank you. Goodbye, Futaba._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Sure. Cya_

 

Sure enough, Makoto got a link from Futaba a few days later that led to a website with a download link for the promised app. From there, it was only a matter of time before she caught one of the delinquent's friends slipping up. Jackpot. With evidence in hand (and safely backed up with Futaba), Makoto went to confront her quarry.

 

* * *

 

Jun Sato, also known as Joker to a select few, was surprised to see the student council president actually asking to talk to him privately. She'd been following him and his friends around for a while, and he'd been starting to suspect she had a crush on one of the Phantom Thieves. Evidently, that crush was on none other than him. She was really aiming high, not that she knew it. The leader of the latest media sensation? Well, now, that was nothing but ambitious. Smirking internally at his self-flattery, Jun followed Miss Niijima into an unused classroom, and something about the way she closed the door put him on guard. Then she took out her phone and played a recording.

 

"I know I should be glad we're getting all these requests on the Phan-Site, but sorting through them is  _killing_ me," said Mishima in tinny tones.

 

"I getcha, bro," replied the recording of Ryuji's voice. "but we're actually  _doing something_ about all those shitty adults out there. You can't tell me becoming a Phantom Thief was  _all_ bad. Sides, I thought you were getting some people to help with the site."

 

Niijima paused the recording there. "I trust you don't need to hear any more, Mister Sato."

 

Jun's face lost all its color. She  _knew_. What did she want? She wouldn't play this recording if she wasn't planning to blackmail him and the other Thieves, she'd just give it to the cops if she wanted to get them locked up.

 

She held up a hand. "Now, before you get any ideas, you should know that I've made copies of that recording and put them somewhere secure. Also, I know aikido, so if you try anything physical, you'll regret it. Now, call a meeting of your gang and bring me along. I've got a lot to say, and I only want to say it once."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, things are starting to move along. I ended up giving Joker a name that isn't either of the canon ones so that nobody's happy. That's how compromises work, right? Also, Mishima's a Phantom Thief. Didn't see that coming, did you? That's just me having some fun. Feel free to roast me over the coals, because the changes to canon have only just started, and they're gonna range from cosmetic to throwing the plot off the rails. And feel free to make guesses about Mishima's code name and persona and all, I'd like to hear people's thoughts. It helps motivate the muse. Last but not least, let me apologize for most of this chapter being text messaging. It should get better now that the story's moving into people having face-to-face conversations and generally doing things.


	5. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In between this chapter and the last, Makoto told the Phantom Thieves about what's going on with Futaba, and they agreed to help. I'm not writing that sequence because it would touch on the topics of suicide and intent to commit suicide, and I do not feel confident in my ability to write about those topics with the appropriate sensitivity.

Makoto was having a terrible day. Talking about Futaba's troubles with the Phantom Thieves had exhausted her emotionally, and even though they had agreed to help, it was clear that her tactics for making them listen to her had caused some resentment on their part. It was reasonable to dislike being blackmailed, but Makoto wasn't up for being understanding at the moment. Being forcibly pulled into a subway in another dimension made of human cognition and forced to confront a hideous monster would do that to a person.

 

Apparently, Mishima thought that she would need the same power the Phantom Thieves had to help them change Futaba's heart, and since he supposedly had "scarily accurate gut feelings," in the words of Sakamoto, Makoto was being pushed into a metaphorical corner like all the Phantom Thieves had been so that she'd find some sort of "inner power" like they had. They claimed it was a sink-or-swim process and thus couldn't help her, but Makoto thought they just wanted some payback for blackmailing them.

 

"Yeah, a bit," Takamaki had said. "But after this, you'll basically be one of us, so we won't be mad anymore."

 

Makoto wasn't sure she wanted to be one of them, but she needed to help Futaba, so she would put up with the hazing. And now the monsters were starting to surround her. This was it, her test had come, and Makoto intended to pass it like she passed all her tests: with flying colors. Makoto wasn't sure how to dig deep inside herself for inner strength, so she resorted to thinking _Please help me_ at herself. As the monsters closed in, her pleas became more insistent. Finally, fed up with the Phantom Thieves for throwing her into this situation and fed up with herself for just letting all this happen to her, Makoto stopped asking and started demanding:  _Give me the strength I need to fight_ _or I'll_  make _you._

 

A laugh echoed inside Makoto's head.  _Finally. I thought you'd never remember your backbone. Not very clearly yet, but it's a start._

 

A mask appeared on Makoto's face and fused to her skin. She clawed at it, screaming with the pain. But it was worth it. To prove her worth to the Phantom Thieves, to prove her strength to herself, to gain the strength to help Futaba, enduring this pain was nothing. She would not allow herself to fail her only friend by waiting for others to act. Never again.

 

Blood dripped down Makoto's face and turned to fire. As brass knuckles flickered in and out of existence on her hands, she swung a fist and flung the nearest creature down the length of the tunnel they occupied.

 

_Impressive, most impressive. But that's nothing at all compared to what you could be. Say my name, and graduate into your true self!_

 

The fire spread to cover Makoto's body and changed her clothing to armor as she tore off her mask and roared the name of her inner self.

 

"JOHANNA!"

 

* * *

 

 Not too far from the scene of Makoto awakening her Persona, the Phantom Thieves were sitting in the Morganamobile and watching their soon-to-be newest member demolish a horde of Shadows. Somehow, Joker had produced a large bucket of popcorn from his coat and was sharing it with the others.

 

"Anyone else think that's kinda hot?" Skull asked. Globe nodded even as she glared at him.

 

Fox, who hadn't taken his eyes off Makoto for the entire time she'd been fighting Shadows, said between handfuls of popcorn, "It's outstanding. I'll have to ask her if she'll model for me some time."

 

Spider, staring off into space in Makoto's general direction, muttered to himself, "It's a good thing she's taking out her frustrations on the Shadows and not on us. I was sure she was gonna put us in the hospital."

 

Skull groaned. "Don't say shit like that, dude! You just jinxed us."

 

"Sorry!" Spider squeaked as he realized how he'd doomed them all.

 

Everyone fell silent, and Makoto finished annihilating Shadows and stalked over to the Morganamobile. As she came closer, it became possible to make out the smile on her face. It made her look like she'd just had a pleasant nap. The Phantom Thieves made their peace in the few moments they had left. Once she got within earshot, Makoto began to speak.

 

"That was surprisingly pleasant! I really have to thank you for doing this, I feel like I could demolish a whole skyscraper with my bare hands. Now take me back home, and let's start working on changing Futaba's heart tomorrow. Glad to be working with you all." Then Makoto got into the van, curled up, and fell asleep.

 

Skull chuckled nervously. "Guess we've got a new teammate, huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Makoto's a Phantom Thief now, more or less, and Futaba isn't far behind. In case it wasn't clear, Globe is Ann's codename, and Spider is Mishima's. Ann's thief costume in this story makes her look like Carmen Sandiego, so she's got a code name to match. And Mishima...well, you'll see. Interesting fact about Mishima: his tarot card, the Moon, is associated with intuition, and Mishima canonically figures out that Joker's a Phantom Thief without any real evidence, so combine that with his habit of hanging out right next to Chihaya the genuine fortuneteller and he's definitely got something going on. In this story, it's that he's got superhumanly accurate intuition that's essentially fortunetelling/psychic powers. Of course, it's not something he can use on command, because that'd make things too easy.


	6. Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Makoto awoke from her Persona-burnout-induced nap to find herself propped up against one of the Morganamobile's seats. Evidently the Phantom Thieves had business in the subway world aside from giving her Johanna. Or else they were simply taking their time going back to everyday reality. It wasn't very clear to her. She looked at the Thieves' faces in hopes of getting a read on them, but their masks made the task too difficult. Makoto wasn't sure how such tiny masks could make it impossible to read people's faces, other than the strangeness of a world made of human cognition, as she'd been hurriedly informed before getting dragged in here. A mask hid your face effectively even if it was more decoration than disguise, it seemed. Makoto decided to strike up a conversation to get the information she wanted. This led to a positive flood of information about what exactly changing a heart entailed and all the strange metaphysical nonsense that came with it. Based on the descriptions she got, Makoto was forced to conclude that the cognitive world ran on movie logic. When she gave voice to her conclusion, she got a round of nods and exclamations along the lines of "How did we not think of that sooner?"

 

After the self-reproach died down, Skull asked, "So now that you're up to speed on all that, whatcha want your code name to be? I was thinking you could do something with the whole post-apocalyptic biker look."

 

As Makoto looked over herself to find that she was indeed dressed like an extra from a Mad Max movie, Joker said, "Spike, definitely. She's covered in 'em."

 

"I'll keep it in mind, but I'd rather not use that one," Makoto said in a tone that dared someone to disagree.

 

"Post-apocalypse characters usually have names with 'Lord' or King' in them, right? So how about Sovereign?" Spider suggested.

 

"It sounds too much like I'm the one in charge. And a villain," Makoto said.

 

"Y'know, you sound like Sailor Venus, so how about Venus?" Globe asked.

 

Makoto opened and closed her mouth more than once while processing what she'd just heard. Finally, she said, "It just doesn't feel right."

 

"Huh, I was sure you'd go for it," Globe said.

 

"Considering the fact that she did not stay angry at us for how we made her awaken her Persona, Miss Niijima seems to be quite skilled in defying our expectations," Fox remarked.

 

That set off a light bulb in Makoto's head.

 

"I've got it!" She shouted. "Shock! It means surprise and suggests that I have electrical powers when I actually have nuclear magic. Defying expectations. How's that?"

 

It also sounded like something Futaba would pick and for similar reasons, but Makoto didn't mention that.

 

Everyone else mulled it over for a few moments, but they could find no objections to the code name. And so, Shock became the newest member of the Phantom Thieves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured the people reading this are likely to be familiar with how the world of Persona 5 works, so repeating all the exposition about the Metaverse and so on just seemed like a needless repetition. And yes, Makoto's got a different code name in this story. The other Thieves don't see her quite as much as someone forcing her way into their activities and making them do what she wants, so they're not as inclined to call her something like Queen. Makoto herself is also somewhat more personally invested in changing Futaba's heart than Kaneshiro's, so she especially doesn't want to risk the Thieves deciding not to help if she comes off as bossy. She's still very much the take-charge type, she's just reining it in for the time being, as she does at the start of Kaneshiro's Palace where she's constantly deferring to Joker's decisions until she feels like a solid part of the team. And for those who were unaware, the Sailor Venus thing is a reference to one of the other roles Makoto's English voice actress has played. Sounds exactly the same, it freaked me out a little when I first heard Makoto's voice.


	7. Pyramid Power, Part 1

After Makoto's initiation into the Phantom Thieves, she returned home and pretended like she'd had a normal day for her sister's sake. Once Sae was safely in her bedroom where she wouldn't take much notice of Makoto's actions, Makoto got out her phone to tell Futaba the good news.

 

_NiMakoto: *hacker voice*: I'm in._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Aw its babys first meme. Howd it go?_

 

_NiMakoto: Pretty well, I think. They don't seem to mind my blackmailing them much, though I did make sure to promise that I wouldn't actually use it. One of the only times I've been glad to have a reputation for being uptight. They know I'll keep my word._

_NiMakoto: I'm not sure when exactly we'll be changing your heart. Apparently they're used to working within deadlines._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Want me to give em one? I can put together some ransomware or something._

 

_NiMakoto: Let's save that for a last resort. I'll ask about it tomorrow, and we'll see how that turns out._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Aight._

_Tigressofjapan: And thanks for going to all this trouble for me._

 

_NiMakoto: Of course. What else are friends for?_

_NiMakoto: Talk to you tomorrow._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Ye. Night!_

* * *

Futaba stared at the screen of her phone. She didn't deserve to know Makoto, she really didn't. And yet there Makoto was, talking to her. Just thinking about her made Futaba want to sigh like a lovestruck anime character. Like she didn't do that twenty times a day anyway. Ugh, how cheesy could you get? Makoto deserved more than Futaba mooning over her like they were the leads in a third-rate romance drama. If only she could leave her room again. Shame her last good day was the day she'd learned Makoto's name. Futaba wanted so badly to show Makoto just how much she meant to her.

 

_The Pharaoh looked over the recent addition to her walls. What a lovely portrait of the Goddess who deigned to speak with her. She wished the Goddess could see it, but she was much too busy. It was such a shame, but all the Pharaoh could do was pray for the Goddess to stick around while her counterpart in the Other World prepared for her journey into the Pharaoh's realm._

* * *

The next day, Makoto met up with her new partners in crime after school at their usual hangout, a walkway in one of the busiest train stations in the city. If Makoto stayed part of the Phantom Thieves, she'd really have to beat the meaning of the word "opsec" into their brains. This was just asking to get caught.

 

Once they'd all gotten together, Jun opened the meeting. "So, Futaba's Palace. Are her ideas for the keywords good, or does Makoto not know her friend as well as she thinks?"

 

While Makoto wiped the glare off her face, Mishima said, "I played around with Makoto's idea about Futaba expecting to die in her room after we left Mementos yesterday. The Meta-Nav went with Futaba's bedroom being her tomb. She's definitely not in a good place if that's what got a hit."

 

Ryuji, eyes wide, said, "For real? Let's get in there! More I learn about Futaba, the more I wanna have her heart changed yesterday."

 

After Ryuji's outburst, there wasn't much to say. Mishima activated the Meta-Nav, and all the Phantom Thieves felt their bodies twist and move in directions that had no name in human language as they traveled to another dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind, into a hideous land of cognition, into the Metaverse.

* * *

The first thing the Phantom Thieves noticed about Futaba's Palace was the stifling heat of the desert they had just entered. The second thing was the vast pyramid, no doubt Futaba's tomb. And the third thing...

 

"Is that a cognitive version of Shock fighting a sphinx?!?"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The description of the Thieves entering the Metaverse is a parody of the opening narration for The Twilight Zone. As for Futaba's Palace having a cognitive Makoto fighting the Sphinx, I figured Futaba's cognition would have to reflect having a friend who's trying really hard to help her. Sojiro just kinda left Futaba to her own devices, but Makoto's actively working to make Futaba's life better in a way Futaba can't help but notice. And since Futaba's now wrestling with the idea that maybe other people aren't always going to hate her, Cognitive Makoto is wrestling the sphinx that embodies Futaba's self-hatred.


	8. Pyramid Power, Part 2

Somehow, Futaba's Palace included what was clearly a cognitive Makoto that was a giant currently engaged in wrestling an equally giant sphinx. Makoto thought the sphinx's face looked familiar, but it was too far away to be sure. It was, then, a mixed blessing that the only landmark, a giant pyramid, was in roughly the same direction as the wrestling match. Unfortunately, the desert had no roads, and the Morganamobile was not equipped with good air conditioning or four-wheel drive. It was going to be a long trip.

* * *

 It had taken several hours and no small amount of griping from everyone, but the Phantom Thieves had finally arrived at a small city surrounding Futaba's pyramid. Curiously, even though they had reached the Palace proper, the group remained in their everyday outfits, which at this point were all absolutely coated with sweat in a way that never seemed to happen with Metaverse-produced clothing. Despite this being a sign that Futaba didn't see them as a threat, Jun had to wonder when the other shoe would drop. Futaba knew just who was coming to change her heart, there had to be some sort of trap lying in wait. Maybe all the surprises were inside the pyramid, he vaguely recalled that real-life pyramids had traps in them to catch grave robbers. Yeah, that made sense. While Jun was pondering that question, the group approached the pyramid itself. As they crossed the threshold, everyone's clothes changed to their Phantom Thief outfits, save for Makoto, who was swept into a hug by a young woman dressed in an Ancient Egypt-looking outfit with a smile on her face even bigger than her glasses.

 

"You're here, you're here! It's so good to see you, Lady Makoto!" The Shadow (what else could she be?) said.

 

"Futaba? What-? 'Lady Makoto?' I don't understand," Makoto got out from beneath the rib-crushing hug.

 

The Shadow frowned. "Did you forget about sending your avatar here to fight the Sphinx?" After a moment, her face brightened again. "Well, I'm sure seeing the fight'll remind you while the bozos you came with prove they're worthy to be your companions."

 

With those words, a trapdoor opened up, sending the Phantom Thieves into the depths of the pyramid. Makoto gaped at the sight before hurrying to the edge, only to get caught by Futaba's Shadow.

 

"Don't worry, they won't die. Probably. They need to get the trust of the other me anyway, and it ain't happening in the other world," the Shadow said.

 

"I thought you were testing if they could be my companions," Makoto said.

 

"I can multitask. I don't exactly like being stuck here, so the more efficiently I can help out Other Me the better," Shadow Futaba explained.

 

Makoto blinked at that and asked, "You're trying to help Futaba? But wouldn't that get rid of you?"

 

Shadow Futaba shrugged. "I don't think so, I'd just be more directly part of her."

 

Makoto nodded thoughtfully and said, "So what exactly does separating me from the others accomplish? I know you want the other Futaba to trust them, but shouldn't I be helping them? I know Futaba better than they do, so I'd think that'd be more efficient than just doing...whatever you're planning with me."

 

Shadow Futaba shook her head. "Not with the kind of test I put together. You wouldn't be of any special help for 'em. Come on, let's go to the end of the course and wait for 'em there."

 

With that, she walked into the bowels of the pyramid, pulling Makoto with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shadow Futaba is weird to write for. She kind of seems to want the Thieves to succeed, but she's also kind of obstructing them at the same time. Add in the changes to Futaba's cognition from having Makoto as a friend, and I'm at a bit of loss. I went with the idea that Shadow Futaba's aware of the real one's problems and in-game is trying to speed up the process of dealing with them by having the Thieves go through a bunch of trust-building exercises so that Futaba has people she can trust to help her while also making the Thieves want to help her. This Makoto already has Futaba's trust, so she isn't joining in the mess of puzzles that is this dungeon. And Futaba may be just a little bit possessive of her...


	9. Pyramid Power, Part 3

Futaba's Shadow led Makoto up several flights of stairs to a room with a giant door covered in caution tape next to a large balcony. From the balcony, Makoto could see that there was indeed a giant version of her grappling with a sphinx, whose face remained naggingly familiar. She spent several moments taking the scene in before putting together something to say.

 

"Why am I fighting a sphinx? And why is there a sphinx?"

 

The Shadow sighed. "I'd hoped you weren't going to ask."

 

Makoto gave her a  _Look_ copied from her sister. The Shadow quickly folded.

 

"The Sphinx is...the Other Me's hatred for herself, her guilt, and probably a whole lot else. You help with that, so your avatar's keeping the Sphinx from attacking. Well, sometimes, at least. Now stop ruining all the dramatic reveals I had planned."

 

Shadow Futaba was pouting by the end, which set Makoto giggling. Trust Futaba to set up a dramatic climax. As she struck up a conversation with Shadow Futaba, Makoto wondered how the other Phantom Thieves were meeting the Shadow's expectations.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves were not having a good time. While Shock's place in the team wasn't as vital as it could have been, thanks to Spider's Persona also having Nuke magic, she could have lent her brain to the endeavor. Futaba's Palace was full of video game-style puzzles that, in Skull's words, were "the worst Zelda bullshit." Even Globe, who all the Thieves acknowledged as a master of dungeon crawling after seeing her play through six different RPGs in three weeks, was visibly tiring from the sheer slog. The only reprieve they got was the occasional Ancient Egypt-like mural depicting some key point in Futaba's life. So far, they'd seen Futaba learn of her mother's suicide from some insensitive strangers, seen the suicide itself, and seen Futaba ask for her mother's attention. Now, they stared at a fourth mural that must have been a recent addition, since it depicted Futaba being embraced by a winged Shock.

 

"Futaba really needs Shock around, huh?" Skull remarked.

 

"Quite. The imagery is hardly subtle," Fox agreed. "Futaba must truly depend on her."

 

Spider stared at the picture with an intensity unusual for him. "It reminds me of how I felt about Joker right after we took care of Kamoshida. Like as long as he was around, nothing else mattered because his being there made everything okay. Shock might have to do for her what you did for me, Joker."

 

Joker nodded, his face set in a grim line. Spider's case of hero worship had started innocently enough, but then he started talking about "shutting up" critics of the Phantom Thieves, and that couldn't lead anywhere Joker wanted to go. So he and the other Thieves had had a long, cathartic conversation with Spider about it, and things seemed to be resolved for now. Joker didn't envy what Shock would likely be doing in the near future. Those conversations were never pleasant.

 

The fourth mural seemed to be the last thing Shadow Futaba wanted the group to do, as they quickly found themselves reunited with Shock and the Shadow, who were standing in front of a large door and talking about something that had Shock noticeably agitated. On catching sight of them, Shock rushed over and began speaking.

 

"Bad news, everyone. That door is the only way to Futaba's Treasure, but we have to open its counterpart in the real world to get past it. The thing is, I'm certain that's the door to Futaba's room, and she doesn't let anyone in." She sighed. "Joker, Futaba lives with your guardian, so can you lead us to his house? I think I can convince Futaba if I do it in person and she hears how much we need to get in."

 

Joker hesitated to answer. He'd never paid much attention to Sojiro's comings and goings, but how hard could it be to find his house? Finally, he nodded.

 

"It should be doable. Let's get going now, while Boss is still working."

* * *

 The search took some time, but soon enough the Phantom Thieves were at the Sakura house. With the judicious application of lockpicks on Morgana's part, they were in. After another few minutes of searching, they had made it to Futaba's room, which, sure enough, was covered in caution tape.

 

Makoto pressed herself against the door and said, "Futaba, it's Makoto. I'm with the other Phantom Thieves. We need your help to finish changing your heart."

 

After a moment, she added, "You don't have to speak, texting is fine."

 

Shortly thereafter, Makoto's phone got a message.

 

_Tigressofjapan: What do you need you came to talk to me in person?_

 

"We need you to open the door to your room and let us in. It represents letting us in to the deepest part of your mind where the change needs to happen. You don't have to say anything to us, just let us through your door."

 

_Tigressofjapan: Youre sure theres no way around this? I trust you Makoto. Dont make me regret it._

 

"I'm certain, Futaba. Please, help us help you."

 

_Tigressofjapan: Dirty trick to use pop culture references to convince me. But fine. Once i unlock the door im getting in my closet to hide so dont go in right away. Youll get a text when im ready._

 

"All right, Futaba. Just send the word."

 

The sound of a door unlocking echoed in the hall, and after a few moments Makoto got the promised message letting the group come in.

 

As the Phantom Thieves filed in, Ryuji whistled and said, "Nice place you got here, Futaba. Wish I had A/C in my room."

 

Makoto's phone pinged with a message.

 

_Tigressofjapan: Tell that guy i said thanks_

 

Makoto relayed the message to Ryuji, who had ended up right next to Futaba's closet due to the crowding caused by there being almost ten people in a room meant for one.

 

Ryuji pulled out his phone and said, "Well, we're here, may as well go back to the Palace now."

 

As he activated the Meta-Nav, Ann scrambled to his position while shouting, "No, you dope, you'll-"

 

_Everything twisted._

 

"-pull Futaba into the Palace," she finished, as everyone in Futaba's room was transported to her Palace.

 

Futaba's Shadow caught sight of her real-world counterpart and grinned.

 

"Just as planned."

* * *

After Futaba had calmed down, largely thanks to the efforts of her Shadow and Makoto, she managed to ask for an explanation of what exactly was going on. This turned into a long explanation of the Metaverse and the process of changing hearts. Something in Futaba's eyes flickered at the mention of a world made of cognition, but no one pressed her on it. Finally, Makoto explained that Futaba's Shadow had asked her to make sure Futaba ended up in her own Palace, because the Shadow suspected that Futaba needed to be forced to directly confront the distortions in her heart.

 

"So," Makoto said once the exposition was over. "I need to apologize for allowing you to get drawn in here. Your Shadow might be a part of your mind, but I shouldn't have gone along with her plan without getting your okay. I won't make decisions like that for you again."

 

Futaba shrugged and wrote in a convenient dust pile, "Eh, I said you could do whatever you needed to change my heart. If that means I gotta have a Dagobah moment, then I gotta have a Dagobah moment. But yeah, tell me next time. This was severely not cool."

 

"I'll make sure I do," Makoto promised.

 

"All right," Futaba wrote. "Take me to the cave of trials or whatever it is."

 

"This way," her Shadow said, and walked through the giant door.

 

Everyone followed and came face to face with the cognitive Makoto fighting the sphinx they had seen earlier.

 

Futaba looked at the sphinx's face and froze.

  
"Mom?" she whispered.

 

The sphinx noticed Futaba and roared.

 

"Futaba! Why aren't you dead yet? Take responsibility for killing me already and _die_!"

 

The sphinx broke free of the cognitive Makoto's grip and ran towards Futaba, only to be met by the Phantom Thieves.

 

Futaba fell to the floor and started mumbling apologies. Her Shadow crouched beside her.

 

"You know this monster only spouts lies," the Shadow said.

 

"I do?"

 

"Yes. Search your memories. Was that suicide note real? Were the feelings in it real?"

 

Futaba's eyes widened, flicking back and forth as she struggled to recall. The Phantom Thieves continued to hold off the Sphinx, but it was clear that the effort of trawling Futaba's Palace had already tired them out. Spider and Mona were already down for the count, and Fox wasn't far behind.

 

"Hey, Futaba!" Skull shouted in her general direction. "I know you can't rush these things, but we're kinda getting annihilated here, so if you could finish up and help us, that'd be great!"

 

Futaba continued her conversation with her Shadow unimpeded. "That's right! The note couldn't have been real. I could tell, the handwriting was wrong. And Mom wasn't like that anyway! She scolded me sometimes, but my existence never made her sad! There's no way she committed suicide, and there's no way I made her!"

 

Futaba's Shadow smiled. "Exactly. So what did happen?"

 

Futaba stood up. "Mom was murdered! Those rotten bastards put the blame on me as a cover-up!" She growled. "I won't rest til they've paid for what they did to me!"

 

Futaba's Shadow turned to face Futaba. "So, you've decided to seek the forbidden knowledge? Good. Never lose sight of the clarity you've gained here today. You know who you are and what you want. Now, break your chains and take it!"

 

Futaba straightened her spine and shouted the name of her true self. "NECRONOMICON!"

 

In an instant, Futaba's Shadow became a black UFO that scooped Futaba up with squamous tentacles and deposited her in the cockpit.

 

"All right, everyone," Futaba said. "Let's kick some ass!"

 

And with that, the Phantom Thieves re-entered the battle.

* * *

Things ended quickly after Futaba joined the fight against the sphinx of her mother. She was the mistress of this domain now that she knew the truth of herself, and by forcing herself to believe the truth of her mother's death, the sphinx lost its power over her. And so, with Futaba's heart changed and her Palace collapsing, the Phantom Thieves returned to the real world, potential new member in tow.

 

As they all stood in Futaba's room, she panted from the post-fight crash and spoke.

 

"Okay, fore I lose my nerve, thanks to all of you for helping me out. I'm still not a hundred percent okay, but I think this gets me like at least sixty percent. SO thanks. If you want, I'd be more than happy to join your group and help you change hearts. Gotta repay the favor and all. Might get the assholes who ruined my life, too."

 

She turned to face Makoto.

 

"And for you, Makoto, I gotta give some extra special thanks. You got them to help me, and you were the first friend I've had in a long time. You mean a lot to me, but I think I'd like to be more than just friends. Whattya say?"

 

Makoto stiffened. She hadn't been expecting Futaba to say something like that. She liked Futaba, and she thought Futaba was cute, but being more than friends was such a big step. Then again, as her time with the Phantom Thieves proved, sometimes big steps were exactly what you needed.

 

"All right, Futaba. I'm willing to try if you are."

 

As the Phantom Thieves looked on with obvious surprise, Makoto bent down while Futaba leaned up, and the two kissed.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Futaba's Palace is done and the actual ship sets sail! Hooray! This isn't the beginning of the end, but rather the end of the beginning. Now that Makoto and Futaba are a couple, how will that change things? What does it mean for the Conspiracy that Kaneshiro's still around and the Phantom Thieves are still a fringe group? How will Sae feel about Makoto having a relationship when she can't? How will Makoto and Futaba navigate the transition from friends to lovers? We'll see!
> 
> Also, with this chapter, this story is officially the longest story on AO3 tagged Makoto/Futaba. Woo-hoo! Let's see if we can't make it the best one too!
> 
> And lastly, Makoto's line "help us help you" is a reference to the movie Jerry Maguire, where the line is "help me help you". Probably not a reference a Japanese person would make, but it fit too well for me to leave it out.


	10. Grand Debut

After kissing Makoto, Futaba collapsed. This unfroze the other Phantom Thieves, who began to move and speak again.

 

Ryuji, a thoughtful frown on his face, asked, "If all the girls we know are gay, what does that mean for us?"

 

"I don't think it means anything," Makoto said. "You're just open-minded."

 

Ryuji shook his head. "Nah, I read somewhere that if you got gay friends, chances are you're gay too."

 

Makoto snorted in amusement. "Like Stand users being drawn together by fate? Though I suppose our Personas are similar in concept to Stands."

 

Her face turned serious again. "Anyway, I trust no one here has an issue with me and Futaba having that kind of relationship?"

 

A round of agreement that there was no problem met her question.

 

Makoto smiled. "Good. I'd hate to have to express my  _disappointment_ with you if there was an issue."

 

Mishima, with the face of someone who'd suddenly realized something important, said, "What do we about Mister Sakura? He's gonna notice that Futaba's different now and wonder what happened."

 

"We tell him the truth," Jun said. "Makoto met Futaba a couple months ago and became friends. Then she asked the Phantom Thieves to change Futaba's heart because she learned about how bad things were for her. Futaba went along with it because she was out of options, and it worked. Now Futaba wants to be closer with Makoto and her friends because she was lonely."

 

"That  _is_ true, huh?" Ann said. "I like it!"

 

No one put forward any objections, and that was that. The group left Futaba's room and went home for the day. ~~~~

* * *

As Futaba recovered from her change of heart, Makoto started visiting Leblanc regularly once more. Mister Sakura recognized her from a conversation he'd had with Futaba soon after she'd met Makoto and offered the occasional teasing comment about Makoto "hanging around like a girl waiting for her date to show up." He wasn't exactly wrong, since she  _was_ waiting for the arrival of her lady love (and wasn't  _that_ an odd thing to consider!). Futaba had gone radio silent, other than mentioning a plan to show up at Leblanc "so I can surprise Sojiro," and there wasn't much else to but make sure Futaba knew the cover story (which she did) and wait for her to make her debut. At last, that day arrived.

 

The sound of the door slamming opened drew the attention of everyone in Leblanc (which was Makoto, Mister Sakura, and Jun). Standing in the entrance was the broadly grinning figure of Futaba, who declared, "Sojiro, I hunger!"

 

The man in question let the cup in his hands fall to the floor. After a long silence, a flurry of questions left his mouth, all variations on how she'd managed to leave her room and make the trek to Leblanc.

 

Futaba pointed to Makoto. "Thank Makoto here. She asked the Phantom Thieves to change my heart, and it worked! How's that?"

 

Futaba sat down next to Makoto and hugged her for a moment before pulling back as if burned.

 

"Okay, so I've got a ways to go before I can thank you like you deserve, but it's better than nothing," she said.

 

Mister Sakura walked over to where they were sitting and said to Makoto, "I wasn't able to do anything for Futaba but keep her safe, and you've gotten her doing better than I've seen in a long time. So...thank you. I wish I had the words to really say how grateful I am, but I don't. Just don't hurt her. Futaba doesn't need fake friends."

 

Makoto rushed to assure him. "Mister Sakura, I would  _never_! Futaba's important to me, too. She's the first friend I've had in a long time, hurting her would be like ripping off an arm!"

 

The man's face lightened some. "Glad to hear it. Now then, I'll leave you two be. I'm sure you've got a lot to talk about."

 

He returned to the counter and looked at Jun, who was smirking at the sight of Makoto and Futaba's conversation. "What's so funny?"

 

"Miss Niijima's the student council president at my school," Jun said. "It's weird seeing her without the stick up her ass."

 

"Hey!" Makoto shouted with the indignation of a thousand PTA members as Futaba chuckled at Jun's description.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Futaba's getting herself used to being around other people again. She deliberately chose a time when Leblanc wasn't crowded and had Makoto in it. She's more aware of her limits in being around other people here than in-game thanks to her conversations with Makoto making those limits clear. Also, writing Sojiro is hard. I hope I got his character right, but I just don't know. Coffee Dad is probably not going to show up much because of that, unfortunately. And lastly, for those who aren't aware, the mentions of "Stands" are a reference to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a series where many of the characters have Persona-like guardian spirits called "Stands" and people with Stands are apparently drawn together by fate. That series predates Persona by several years, so Persona's the rip-off if anything.


	11. Making Friends

As the month of June came to a close, the Phantom Thieves got together at Makoto's place to discuss three matters. Firstly, they needed to look for a new major target now that Futaba and Makoto had slotted themselves neatly into the group after spending a significant chunk of their free time with the others to get to know them. Secondly, they had to decide if they wanted to try making contact with press. And thirdly, they needed to figure out what to do for Ryuji's upcoming birthday.

 

"Ah, we don't need to do somethin'. I'm just glad I got people besides my mom who took the time to remember," Ryuji said while rubbing the back of his neck.

 

"It doesn't feel right not doing something for you," Jun said. "You're the first friend I made in Tokyo. That means something, man. Let's at least go out to get some cake or something."

 

"Oh, definitely. Cake's non negotiable," Ann said. "And the thing Jun said about friendship goes for me too. You're a pretty good friend when you're not being an ass, Ryuji."

 

"Wow, Ann. I'm touched," Ryuji said with an obviously fake air of being overwhelmed by emotion as he patted his chest. "You got me right here."

 

Futaba cut in before anyone else could speak. "Can we get to the other stuff we're here for? Your banter's killing me."

 

"Fine with me," Ryuji said. "Wasn't my idea to have a birthday party."

 

With the matter of Ryuji's birthday shelved for the time being, talk moved to the question of searching for media contacts.

 

"I think we'll have to start looking for a friendly face in the press," Makoto said. "It would be a good way to learn about potential targets, and we could use that as a way to strike a deal in the first place. Giving us information on corrupt people in exchange for advance notice on our activities might work if we find the right journalist."

 

"We're not famous enough for any news people to care, though," Ann pointed out. "Sure, Madarame's press conference was a big thing and we've been helping a lot of people with smaller things, but we haven't gone after anyone that'd really grab attention."

 

"We could use that to get an in with someone," Futaba said. "News people always want the next big story, and we just tell 'em that we'll be that big story if they give us a target big enough to make headlines, we go change that jerk's heart, and boom! We've got ourselves a pet journalist. You're not gonna ruin your career by admitting you helped cause the story that made you successful."

 

Morgana hummed thoughtfully. "Becoming famous  _would_ let us go deeper into Mementos, and changing the public's perception of us might make infiltrating Palaces easier. Do you guys remember the name of that journalist we ran into while we were investigating Madarame? She might be a place to start."

 

"Yeah, she gave me her card, I think it's still in my bag," Jun said as he rummaged through said bag. After a few moments, he fished out a beat-up business card and read off the contents:  _Ichiko Ohya, Entertainment Reporter for_ Daily News _. Please contact at Tokyo, Shinjuku Ward, District 2, Block 6, Building 9, Crossroads Bar._

 

"For real?! A reporter for a paper that big, and she works out of a gay bar?!" Ryuji exclaimed. "How have they not fired her yet? Something like that would kill their reputation if it got out."

 

"She probably uses the absurdity to get away with it. If nobody could believe it, you won't bother trying to spread it around," Makoto guessed.

 

"That's kind of a problem for us, though," Ann said. "If that bar's where Ohya works, we can't meet her. We're all underage."

 

"She's got to go in and out of the place some time," Jun said. "I'll wait around for her out on the sidewalk near the bar and grab her there. She gave me her card, so she'd recognize me out of all of us. I offer the deal, and we'll go from there."

 

"How will you convince her that you can pass her information on to the Phantom Thieves?" Yusuke asked. "You can't be planning to reveal your true identity to her."

 

Everyone was silent for several moments, pondering Yusuke's unexpected good point. Finally, Mishima spoke up.

 

"I'll give Jun the login information for my account on the Phan-Site and he can pretend to be the admin. That way, he'll have a way to give the Phantom Thieves information and a reason to help them. If the deal goes through, I'll make a big announcement on the site about having an anonymous source on new potential targets and start making announcements every time we get something from Ohya so she'll know that Jun's holding up his end of the bargain. How's that sound?"

 

Mishima's proposal was met with a round of approval.

 

"I assume we'll be targeting whoever Ohya tells us about for our next big heist if this works?" Makoto asked.

 

"If the guy's scummy enough, yeah. Don't see why not," Ryuji said.

 

Everyone agreed with that.

 

"Well then," Jun said. "Let's get to it."

* * *

Waiting for Ohya was impressively boring, but Jun persevered for several days until he finally managed to catch her. Ohya looked just like the picture Futaba had found: tall, lanky, hairstyle that made her head look spherical, dress sense of a college student, and a face that clearly had a lot of practice frowning.

 

"Are you Ichiko Ohya?" he asked.

 

"Yeah. Whatcha want? I gotta date with a bottle in there, so this better be good," she said, a scowl beginning to form on her features.

 

"I've got your next hot scoop," Jun said.

 

Ohya laughed mirthlessly. "That's what they all say. If you're gonna waste my time, waste it inside where I can kill the brain cells that'd remember you."

 

"I'm underage," Jun told her.

 

Ohya grabbed his arm and pulled him in, saying, "It's fine if you don't order anything. Lala's cool when she's not bitching me out."

 

"Lala" proved to be the bartender of Crossroads, a large middle-aged woman with prominent laugh lines.

 

"I'm not serving the kid anything but water," Lala told Ohya as she entered with Jun in tow.

 

"Don't worry, Lala, it's just business. Kid says he's got a story," Ohya said.

 

"Don't mind me, then," Lala said.

 

Once they were seated, Ohya's eyes turned stony. "What do you got for me?"

 

"You know about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?" Jun asked.

 

Ohya scoffed. "Yeah. Bit hard to avoid knowing about 'em right now, 'specially since my boss wants me to cover the story. Are you gonna tell me you know who they are? Cause I've heard they're everything from a bunch of lucky high schoolers to vigilante ex-cops to Lupin the Third's gang."

 

Jun shook his head. "That's not what I've got. You know that website where people go to ask the Phantom Thieves to help them and sometimes you even get people on there saying it worked? I'm the guy who runs that site."

 

"Bullshit. You don't look like you could program a calculator, never mind a website," Ohya said before taking a drink from a glass Jun hadn't heard her order. She must have had a standing order with Lala.

 

"I can prove it if you let me borrow your phone," Jun said.

 

Raising an eyebrow, Ohya passed him her phone, which he used to log in to the Phan-Site with Mishima's administrator account. Looking at the screen, Ohya's face lost some of its hardness.

 

"All right, so you run the big Phantom Thieves website. What's that got to do with me?" she asked.

 

"Well, since the Phantom Thieves clearly check out the site or people's requests wouldn't get filled, I can get them to go after specific people by, say, making an announcement post that can't be ignored about how I've been told about a corrupt person the Phantom Thieves might wanna go after. Too bad the person who told me doesn't wanna make a post on the site cause they're scared they'll get tracked down and punished, but that's just further proof that this person's really bad. So if you tell me about some of those corrupt people that the Thieves might wanna go after, I'll make sure they know about 'em and you've got advance notice about a good story. Whattya say?"

 

Ohya laughed, smacking the table. "You got balls, kid. I can respect that. But what're you really after? You can't just wanna help the Phantom Thieves get justice or whatever."

 

Jun shrugged. "If the Phantom Thieves get famous, the Phan-Site gets more people visiting it. Is that you wanna hear?"

 

Ohya leaned her head on her fist and said, "Guess you're still young enough to do stuff out of principle, huh?" She sighed as her face took on a wistful expression. "Wish I was your age again. Must be nice living in a world where everything's all storybook like that."

 

"So do we have a deal?" Jun asked.

 

Ohya resumed her stony expression. "I was gonna be writing about the Phantom Thieves anyway, so you've gotta do something extra for me. I've got an investigation I've been working on unofficially for a couple years, and I wanna finish it up. You're gonna help me with that or you get nothing from me." Noticing the worry written on Jun's face, she smirked. "Don't worry, it's nothing that'll scar you for life. I just need someone to do the grunt work. Searching for stuff on the internet and getting people to talk to me when I go to interview 'em. You look like you have a knack for that kinda thing. Got me interested in your offer, after all."

 

"All right, then," Jun said. "We have a deal."

 

Ohya's face brightened to a degree Jun hadn't suspected she was capable of. "Sweet, I don't have to work anymore tonight! Lala, give us another round!"

 

As Jun "celebrated" with Ohya and let his teammates know of his success, he felt a new bond beginning to form.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much shipping this time, unfortunately, but I'm working out a scene where Makoto and Futaba actually sit down to talk about what they want their relationship to be, so expect that soon. According to my research, Ryuji's birthday has been officially stated to be July 3rd, so I threw in a reference to that. Also, we have another shake-up to the plot. Ohya's actually gonna be significant here! I actually like the concept of her Confidant quite a bit, but the execution was pretty lackluster IMO, so I'm involving Joker in her investigation and giving Ohya a role in the larger plot. I plan to do some original Palaces, and Ohya's gonna be the one to clue the Phantom Thieves into their existence. Also, the newspaper Ohya works for is a real one that's one of the five Japanese papers to have nationwide circulation. I figured that since in-game Ohya's articles are supposed to affect public opinion pretty much singlehandedly she must work for a paper that's read all over Japan. And lastly, the address for Crossroads is given in the actual format used for addresses in Japan, though I don't know what might be at that particular address. Shinjuku's Second District (AKA Nichome) is Tokyo's gay district, and Crossroads is pretty clearly meant to be a gay bar, considering the name's a reference to cross-dressing. The "Block 6, Building 9" part is exactly the joke you think it is.


	12. Firm Foundations

After the end-of-June meeting of the Phantom Thieves ended, everyone but Futaba filed out from Casa Niijima. She’d been asked to stay behind so that Makoto could talk with her, which terrified Futaba. She hadn’t done anything to merit the dreaded “we need to talk,” at last nothing that allowed itself to be remembered. Then Makoto pulled out a whiteboard and markers.

 

”What are those for?” Futaba asked, mentally bracing herself for a diagram of why Makoto was breaking up with her.

 

”We’re going to make a chart of things that we want to do together and things we don’t. And any other categories that come up,” Makoto said. “I want this relationship to work, and that means working out boundaries sooner rather than later.”

 

Futaba made a drawn-out “oh” of realization before saying, “I, uh, didn’t really think about this before, so why don’t you start?”

 

Makoto nodded and wrote on the whiteboard as she spoke.

 

”I’m all right with kissing and hugging, but not in public. I think we’d both rather not deal with harassment.”

 

Futaba nodded at that, and Makoto continued.

 

”I’m also okay with cuddling, and holding hands in public is fine with me if it is with you.”

 

Futaba made a so-so gesture. Makoto nodded and made a “maybe” column for those two.

 

”I’d like to go on dates once in a while, but if you’d rather not I understand.”

 

”Define a date,” Futaba said.

 

Makoto thought for a minute before answering. “We go somewhere to have fun and it’s just the two of us. And I suppose we agree that it is a date.”

 

Futaba shrugged. “Sure, I can work towards bein’ able to do that.”

 

Makoto smiled and continued. “Also, I think it would be good for us to officially make it all right for either us to not want to do something we’re usually okay with doing.”

 

”I probably woulda suggested that,” Futaba said.

 

”All right then,” Makoto said. “That’s all I had for things I’d like to or be willing to do. What do you have?”

 

”You said most of ‘em,” Futaba answered. “How do you feel about romantic gestures?”

 

”Ask if they’re all right before you do them?” Makoto suggested.

 

”Sounds good,” Futaba said. “That’s it for me, what else is on the menu?”

 

”Things we don’t want to do,” Makoto said. “Do you want me to go first again?”

 

”I got it this time,” Futaba said. “Um, don’t touch me without asking or I say it’s okay. Also, anything more than kissing I don’t wanna do. It’s...messy.”

 

Both their faces were red as Makoto wrote down what Futaba said in the “no” column.

 

”Don’t worry about it,” Makoto said. “I have the same opinion about that subject. Anything else you wanted to mention?”

 

Futaba shook her head. “Nope. You?”

 

”I’d really prefer we kept our relationship a secret from my sister,” Makoto said. “She doesn’t like it when I look like I’m not taking my future seriously. This would probably look like it to her.”

 

”Is she bigoted or just uptight?” Futaba asked.

 

”Sis likes women too, actually,” Makoto answered. “When Sis was in college, she and her friends where they looked at pictures of famous women and said if they were ‘hot or not.’ I started joining in, and I’m sure you can imagine the process of young Makoto figuring out that she and her sister liked women in  _that_ way. I wasn’t very subtle about it, so Sis is well aware of my...preferences.”

 

”I getcha,” Futaba said. “Sojiro knows about me bein’ gay, but he doesn’t really care. He said that if it didn’t matter to him who I went went out with as long as I was being careful. So if you’re cool with him knowing about us, I am too.”

 

”I suppose I won’t try to hide around him,” Makoto said. “We’ll see what happens.”

 

”So are we done with your chart now?” Futaba asked. “I wanna chill out now.”

 

”I suppose so, but let me know if you want to add something” Makoto said.

 

”All right, now lemme turn my brain off,” Futaba said.

 

Before Makoto could respond, her phone beeped with a text message notice at the same time as Futaba’s. It was from Jun to all the Phantom Thieves.

 

_GangsterOfLove: Newspaper buddy get!_

 

_WebMaster: All right_ _I’ll get started on my end._

 

After looking over the messages, Futaba and Makoto put their phones away and sat down next to each other on the Casa Niijima couch. Then Sae Niijima walked in the door.

 

”Makoto, I’m home. They let me off at a reasonable hour for-“ Sae paused as she took in the presence of Futaba and the chart.

 

”Makoto,” she asked with a perfectly level voice. “Who is that sitting next to you and why were you making a relationship dos and don’ts chart?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this chapter wasn’t the most interesting, but I felt like it needed to be written. This sort of conversation seems like something Makoto would want to have when she starts dating someone, and Futaba would appreciate the clear expectations. “Hot or Not” is a game I’ve played with friends in college, and it’s just as Makoto described it. Jun’s screen name is a reference to the Steve Miller song Joker, which has the line “Some call me the gangster of love”. Seemed appropriate for a guy in a gang that changes hearts. “WebMaster” is Mishima’s screen name if it wasn’t clear. It’s a reference to both his code name Spider and to his job running the Phan-Site. Being the Phantom Thieves’ webmaster and all.


	13. Awkward Conversations

With Futaba paralyzed from the surprise of Sae Niijima's sudden arrival, Makoto had to step up to cover for everything. She quickly looked over her sister to gague her mood. Sae was a tad hunched over and kneading the space between her brows with one hand. Probably not in the mood to do anything but eat dinner and sleep, then. Time to tell the truth with certain omissions, then.

 

"Oh, Sis, this is Futaba Sakura. I told you about that shut-in girl I met in April, didn't I? This is her. The Phantom Thieves changed her heart recently, so she's working on getting back into wider society. We were talking about what she'd like to do in a romantic relationship, and I thought a chart would help."

 

"The Phantom Thieves changed her heart?" Sae shook her head. "Never mind, Yamauchi's on that case, he won't listen to a thing I say. I'm going to get some rest before dinner, finish things up with your friend."

 

With that, Sae shuffled towards her bedroom, and soon a loud  _whumpf_ echoed through the place. The snores that followed flipped a switch for Futaba and Makoto, who immediately slumped into their seats.

 

"I thought she was gonna give me the shovel speech," Futaba said. "I never wanna be terrified by someone so hot again."

 

Makoto buried her face in her hands. "Please don't call Sis hot."

 

"Fine, but I'm gonna keep thinking it," Futaba said.

 

Makoto groaned into her palms. "If you really have to."

 

"At least you know that in a few years it'll be like when we met all over again with me not being able to talk cause you're too hot," Futaba added.

 

Makoto curled up into a fetal position on the couch and whimpered.

 

"Fine, fine, I'll stop for real!" Futaba said.

 

"Thank you," Makoto sighed. "I'll take you home."

 

And so, Makoto escorted Futaba to the Sakura house and returned to her place in time to make dinner for herself and Sae, who was awake and reading the news by the time Makoto got back. As they were eating, Sae spoke up.

 

"So when are you going to admit that you're dating that Sakura girl?"

 

Makoto choked on her inconveniently-timed sip of water.

 

"I- ack -don't know what you mean, Sis."

 

Sae raised an eyebrow. "I'm not stupid, Makoto. We both know a shut-in like Sakura would only think about what she wanted in a partner if she had one. You're the obvious candidate, being her friend even before she decided to stop cloistering herself."

 

Sae took in Makoto's wide-eyed frown. What was she nervous about? It was hardly a bad thing for Makoto to be dating someone, at least not when she was certainly continuing to do well in school. Ah, she needed to make sure Makoto knew that.

 

"I'm not angry at you, Makoto. This relationship obviously isn't affecting your studies, I can see that clearly. It's good that you're having a relationship with someone you like before you go into the adult world where that won't be an option. I'm happy for you. Really."

 

Makoto nodded, her eyes beginning to shine with unshed tears. "Thanks, Sis."

 

They finished dinner in silence and went on with their night. Still, Sae's mind returned to her words from earlier.  _I'm happy for you_. She was happy for Makoto, wasn't she? A woman couldn't be anything but married to the job if she wanted to get ahead in the man's world that was the workforce, so it was good that Makoto was dating another woman now before she needed to be taken seriously.  _I'm happy for Makoto_ , Sae thought to herself over and over throughout the night.

 

After all, if she told herself that often enough, she'd have to start believing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yamauchi is just someone I made up for Sae to have a coworker. I don't remember if Sae was always the one investigating the Phantom Thieves in the actual game, but here she hasn't been assigned the case yet because it's not big enough for the Director to put her on.


	14. Date Break

June turned into July, and soon enough summer break began. The first day of summer break was a busy day for the Phantom Thieves, with Jun being dragged around Tokyo by Ohya, who had promised to actually give him a name this time, and everyone else busy catching up on lost sleep. All except for Makoto and Futaba, who had decided to actually try going on a date. The two wanted to keep things low-key in public, so they decided to hang out at the ramen place they had gone to with their friends for Ryuji's birthday.

 

"It's a lot quieter this time," Futaba said once they had gotten a table.

 

"I would hope so," Makoto said as she tried to repress the memory of Ryuji's birthday party.

* * *

_"CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG," Futaba chanted as Ryuji poured an entire bowl of ramen into his mouth._

 

_He drained the bowl and set it down, prompting a sigh from Yusuke, who'd been sketching the scene, and whoops of victory from Futaba and Jun, who'd bet that he could do it._

 

_"Pay up," Futaba told Ann and Morgana, who'd lost._

 

_They handed over the money to Jun with obvious displeasure. He then proceeded to make it rain on Ryuji while the two of them began hooting and hollering like Americans. That was when Futaba and Makoto left to get a break from the noise. Mishima, who looked like he really wanted to leave too, was left to suffer in silence._

* * *

"Yeah, that was pretty fun, but I don't wanna do it everyday," Futaba said.

 

"So, what do you want to do after we're done here?" Makoto asked.

 

"I dunno," Futaba said. "Wanna go to my place and watch weird American stuff?"

 

Makoto shrugged. "I don't see why not."

 

"Great, you can tell me what the subtitlers messed up on!" Futaba said.

 

Makoto sighed. "One of these days I'll actually try to do that, and you'll hate me for going over every single line ten times each."

 

Futaba's response was cut short by the arrival of Jun, who had just entered with Ohya. The two of them were bent over like they had just run a marathon. Jun was gasping like a fish out of water and clutching his chest right in the middle, contorting his hand awkwardly. Ohya looked to be in slightly better shape, hands on her knees like a normal person who'd just been running hard while panting just as much as Jun.

 

"Hey, guys," Jun said to his friends when he saw them. "Did you know there's a reason runners wear tight shirts? Apparently the friction on your chest is too much if you don't."

 

"Friends of yours, Jun?" Ohya asked, spine straightening slightly.

 

Jun unbent before he answered. "Yeah. Makoto's got the short hair, and Futaba's got the short spine. They asked the Phantom Thieves for help with something and it worked, so you might wanna interview them. Oh, yeah." He turned to face them. "This is Ichiko Ohya, ace reporter. I'm helping her with some youth culture stories she's writing."

 

"Is running for your life youth culture now?" Futaba joked.

 

"Nah," Jun said. "We were just trying to interview a guy who was in the worst mood and threatened to call the cops on us." __

"Hate when that happens," Futaba deadpanned.

 

"Tell me about it," Ohya said. "You're not a real reporter until someone's called the cops on you. It's a rite of passage. I could tell you some stories."

 

"That's fine," Makoto said, waving her hand frantically. "I'm sure you're busy, we wouldn't want to keep you from your work."

 

Ohya shrugged. "All right. I need to get lunch anyway. Jun, you're buying."

 

"Yes, ma'am," Jun answered. With that, the two walked off to the restaurant's counter.

 

"I like her!" Futaba said.

 

Makoto rolled her eyes. "You like anyone who has no regard for authority."

 

Futaba snickered. "Yeah, you got me. Have you been reading the reports Jun sends us about her? They're great."

 

Makoto did read those reports. They usually started with "Hey guys it's ya boy with another tale of journalism" and ended with whatever outlandish thing Jun wanted them to believe Ohya had said or done that day. Like Ohya had really told her boss that she was dating Jun to get him off her back and Jun had to pretend he liked older women to sell the lie. It was like Jun wasn't even trying to tell a plausible story. It was patently obvious that he liked older women, there was no need for him to pretend. He certainly hung around with enough of them, and he'd just added another to the list the other day, a fortuneteller in Shibuya who was supposedly never wrong in her predictions unless Jun was involved. Makoto thought the woman was trying to scam Jun somehow, it sounded too much like the set-up for a romance story.

 

Despite all the thoughts that raced through Makoto's head as a result of Futaba's question, what she said was a simple, "Don't remind me. Let's just go to your house and watch weird American things."

 

Futaba nodded, and the two left. At the Sakura house, they decided to try out a movie about a baker who fought baking crimes and came into conflict with a madman who baked for money. The good baker was forced to choose between eating an amateur's poorly-made cake and the madman's pie that was well-made but meant to be sold, with the life of the good baker's best friend in the balance. It ended tragically, with the baker's friend turning to professional baking before being forced to retire, his story turned into a legend for amateurs to admire despite the ugly truth.

 

"Somehow I feel more empathetic after watching that," Makoto said as the credits rolled.

 

"Yeah," Futaba agreed. "All that stuff about how the point of baking is to make people happy really struck a chord with me."

 

Futaba startled, as if she'd just realized something.

 

"You have to go back home, don't you?" She asked.

 

Makoto nodded, a frown on her face. "Yeah. I had a good time, though."

 

"Thanks," Futaba said. "Good night!"

 

"Good night," Makoto said.

 

As she left, Makoto thought to herself,  _Life is good. Now how will it all come crashing down?_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing Jun mentions about running in loose clothing is real. It's called runner's nipple and is somewhat prevented by wearing a sports bra, which is why Ohya's not having the same problem. In case it wasn't clear, the movie Futaba and Makoto watch is one of the movies you can watch in-game, The Cake Night Rises.


	15. Target Acquired

The day after their date, Makoto and Futaba, along with their teammates, received a message from Jun that they'd been waiting for.

 

_GangsterOfLove: Ohya gave me a name. Lets meet up and discuss._

 

_YaBoyRyuji: Finally! I was starting to think she was just using you as a gopher._

 

_GangsterOfLove: Makoto is your place free or should we find somewhere else?_

 

_NiMakoto: Sis is at work, so it should be fine._

 

One barrage of "okay"s later, and the Phantom Thieves were meeting up at Casa Niijima once again. Once the circle of seats was assembled, they got right to work.

 

"The guy's name is Seijiro Takahashi," Jun said. "He's the editor-in-chief at Ohya's paper-"

 

"For real?" Ryuji exclaimed. "She just wants you to get her boss off her back?! What a crock of shit."

 

" _As I was saying_ ," Jun continued. "Ohya says he's been firing people for having politics too different from his and working them half to death so they can't go against him if they've got enough seniority that he can't fire them. He has reporters outright make up stories, too. The man doesn't care about reporting the news so much as getting the people who read his paper to believe what he wants them to."

 

The other Phantom Thieves looked skeptical at targeting the man.

 

"Not the most glamorous target, I know," Jun said. "But he does have a Palace, and I am  _not letting my time with Ohya be for nothing dammit_."

 

Jun trembled and breathed heavily. Ryuji put up his hands in a gesture of placation.

 

"All right, man, it's fine, it's fine. That does sound bad, I just...thought we'd be going after someone like Kamoshida or Madarame, y'know? Someone who's over the top, not this kinda subtle stuff. But hey, after this, there's no way people won't know who we are. Can't get more news attention than a guy who's in charge of it, right?"

 

Ryuji chuckled nervously.

 

"Pretty naive of Ohya, though," Futaba said. "News has always been about telling people what to think. She just wants the politics to be more like hers. It's probably better than Takahashi's, since she wants the truth even when the big shots don't, but we gotta think about that too."

 

"Yeah, who exactly would we be giving hope to?" Ann asked. "The news is pretty hope-crushing when it's honest. Everything sucks."

 

"A painful truth is better than a comforting lie," Yusuke said. "It hurts to know what kind of man Madarame was, but I needed to learn it."

 

"People trust the news," Makoto added. "If a popular newspaper started taking a different editorial line, it might nudge people's thinking in ways that could make things better."

 

Ann shrugged. "Maybe?" She exhaled with a huff. "Ah, what the hell. Might as well try, we've got nothing better to do."

 

Futaba threw up her hands. "All right, I'll go along with it. Don't get mad at me when it all ends in disappointment and I say 'I told you so'."

 

"As long as we're going after Treasure, I don't much mind whose it is," Morgana said. "But still, this seems like an interesting change of pace from our other targets, so I'll vote yes."

 

With everyone else in agreement, all eyes fell on Mishima, who was tapping away at his laptop's keyboard. After a few moments, he looked up with surprise written all over his face.

 

"Huh? Oh, right, the vote. Sorry, I was writing an announcement for the Phan-Site so Ohya knows we're holding up our end of the bargain. Yeah, let's do it. Lying to people on such a big scale...it puts a bad taste in my mouth."

 

"All right, then," Jun said. "We're going after Seijiro Takahashi. Now what are his keywords?"

 

"The headquarters for his newspaper?" Ryuji suggested. That did indeed get a match.

 

"Okay, what's he think the office  _is_?" Ryuji asked. "I got nothin'."

 

"He uses the paper to make people think what he wants them to, right?" Ann said. "So maybe something to do with that."

 

"Like one of those Chinese re-education camps?" Futaba said.

 

"Re-education camp" returned nothing.

 

"Maybe an opinion factory? I read in an American book about how the press there is like that," Makoto said.

 

"Factory" also returned nothing.

 

"I think re-education was on the right track," Mishima said. "Maybe it's just regular education, though. A school, maybe?"

 

_Match found_ , the Meta-Nav said, and the world  _twisted_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, we have our first original Palace. I suppose the subject matter for this arc is a bit political, but Persona 5 is a pretty political game to begin with, so I'm not too worked up about it. While I am using an actual newspaper for the place Ohya and Takahashi work at, Takahashi himself is just as fictional as Ohya. I don't know who the actual editor-in-chief for the Daily News is. The book Makoto refers to at the end is Manufacturing Consent, by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. It's about how news media are used by the powerful to make everyone else think specific things. Makoto's misremembering the title a bit.


	16. School Daze, Part 1

The Phantom Thieves faded into the Metaverse in front of a large school.

 

"Takahashi School for Remedial Adult Education?" Shock read off the sign over the entrance.

 

"Geez, was  _my_ Palace this obvious?" Oracle asked.

 

Skull made a so-so gesture. "It's pretty close, but I dunno how to put a number on it."

 

"Ugh, can't believe we have to go to school during summer break," Joker moaned as the group walked right in.

 

"You think you have it bad? I haven't been to one of these prisons for two years," Oracle told him. "The sacrifices I make for you people."

 

"Shouldn't we be running into Shadows by now?" Globe asked.

 

As if waiting for someone to ask that question, a cluster of Shadows swept in and started a fight. The Shadows did not win, and Joker got a new Persona for himself. This pattern repeated itself, minus Joker acquiring new Personas, as the Phantom Thieves snaked through the various rooms of the school. All of the classrooms were filled with faceless students lectured by teachers with faces, all repeating the same lessons:  _Trust the powerful, justice is the law, conformity is necessary, do not question the state of things, your troubles do not matter, the nation is everything, everything in the nation, nothing against the nation, nothing outside the nation..._

 

"Is that Ohya?" Skull asked on seeing one of the teachers.

 

"Yeah," Joker said, unease filling his voice.

 

"We know she doesn't agree with Takahashi's policies, so this must be his cognition of her," Mona said, patting Joker's hand in a gesture of reassurance.

 

"I know," Joker said. "It's just weird hearing that garbage coming out of her mouth."

 

"I hear ya," Skull replied. "Puts shivers down my spine too. Coulda sworn some of this stuff sounds like what they actually teach ya in schools."

 

Oracle nodded. "Doesn't surprise me. Guys like Takahashi are the ones who took the war crimes outta textbooks. They _love_ teaching kids stuff like this."

 

"The war crimes?" Skull asked.

 

Before Oracle could answer, Shock said, "We can talk about that later. We need to focus on the task at hand."

 

Skull shrugged, and the group continued looking through the school's rooms. After searching through the classrooms, they came up with nothing. With the group exhausted, the Phantom Thieves left Takahashi's Palace for the day.

 

"Ugh," Ryuji said once everyone had returned to the normal world. "That was hell."

 

"I'm with you there," Ann said. "Takahashi's worse than I thought. I usually hear that stuff from sound trucks, not newspapers."

 

"Huh?" Ryuji said. "Oh, right, that. I getcha."

 

Futaba yawned. "Well, the only pleasant part of today was watching you guys beat up Shadows. I'm going home. See ya later!"

 

With that, everyone else started making their goodbyes to Makoto and left. Once she was alone, Makoto found a book she hadn't picked up in a while and started reading it to get the poison out of her brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must admit, the idea for this Palace mostly came from the chapter title. The last part of Takahashi's "curriculum" is a reworking of a formula Italian Fascists used to describe their ideal society: "Everything in the state, nothing against the state, nothing outside the state." I doubt Japanese people are very familiar with that particular bit of rhetoric, but I thought it would be easier for my readers to pick up on the meaning than using actual far-right super-nationalist Japanese political rhetoric. Those sorts are also the people who go around in speaker trucks, cars with loudspeakers attached, and harangue people. Japanese politicians in general use speaker trucks, but my research suggested that far-right types use them a lot. Ann's mixed-race, so she probably pays a lot more attention to such people's activities than most of the other Phantom Thieves. Nationalists anywhere tend to take issue with the existence of mixed-race people, after all. And lastly, Futaba's mention of people "taking the war crimes out of the textbooks" is a reference to what Wikipedia calls the "Japanese history textbook controversies". Over the last couple decades, there's been a significant effort by Japanese nationalists to produce history textbooks that leave out the war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World War II and get those textbooks used by Japanese schools. From what I've heard, those efforts are having some success but not necessarily a lot. It's hard to tell since most sources talk about the books more than how they've affected what students are learning.


	17. School Daze, Part 2

A few days after their first foray into Takahashi's Palace, the Phantom Thieves reconvened to take another crack at it. Once again, they entered his "school" and resumed trawling the grounds. With the classrooms thoroughly explored already, they turned their attention to the faculty offices.

 

"Y'know, this Palace is a lot simpler than the other ones," Skull said while rifling through a file cabinet.

 

"Do I wanna know what mine was like?" Oracle asked.

 

"Some of the worst RPG dungeon design I've ever seen," Globe told her.

 

"I found something," Fox said before Oracle could respond to Globe. "It looks like a spare ID card."

 

Spider looked it over. "I think we're gonna need this. Takahahsi's probably the principal here, and we'll need a way to get close to him."

 

"Shouldn't we have seen him by now?" Joker asked. "Palace rulers usually show up right away when we bust in."

 

"He must think of himself as too busy to respond to threats," Mona guessed.

 

Joker shrugged. "I suppose. Works out for me. I thought of a good line to use for when we do run into him."

 

"Ooh, what?" Oracle asked.

 

"I'm not gonna spoil the surprise," Joker said.

 

"And I was so looking forward to hearing it," an unfamiliar voice said.

 

The Theives whirled around and came face to face with Takahashi's Shadow. A nondescript middle-aged man in a suit, he gazed at the Phantom Thieves with obvious contempt.

 

Joker hesitated before speaking. "Um, o-okay. Knock knock, asshole. We're from the school board, here to give you your annual ass-kicking."

 

Shadow Takahashi put a hand to his mouth, considering Joker's words for a few moments. "The part about the school board was good, but 'annual ass-kicking' is rather lackluster."

 

Joker nodded. "Yeah, I'll admit it's a work in progress."

 

"Shouldn't we be fighting now? Or something?" Skull asked, scratching his head.

 

"I don't have time for that," the Shadow said. "The education of our country's people is a never-ending task. If the school board actually wanted to speak with me, I'd certainly make time for them, but a gang of punks like you isn't worth my time. Let the teachers deal with you."

 

With that, the Shadow walked back to his office. The Phantom Thieves followed him at a distance to discover where his office was but did not try to pick a fight again. The door to Takahashi's office was guarded by a pair of large Shadows that looked like members of a school disciplinary committee.

 

"No one sees the principal except for official business," they said in unison on seeing the Phantom Thieves approach.

 

"Told you guys we'd need that ID card," Spider said. "So, what do we do with it?"

 

Joker turned to Fox and said, "Can you make it look like the real deal?"

 

"I think so," Fox said. "But what do you plan to do with it?"

 

Joker smirked. "We're from the school board."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So is it that I'm bad at writing politics or Palaces? Or both? Please let me know how I'm doing, I won't get better if I don't hear what I'm messing up on.


	18. School Daze, Part 3

"You want me to make an identity badge that says the bearer works for a school board," Fox said with a tone so level it could serve as a ruler.

 

"Right, this is where it turns out my idea is dumb for a bunch of reasons I hadn't thought of," Joker said.

 

"I have no tools or reference material on hand, and I am fairly certain that school board employees have no identifying badges," Fox answered.

 

"Honestly, I kind of thought that just writing 'school board' on it would make the thing turn into the genuine article," Joker explained while rubbing the back of his neck.

 

Shock rolled her eyes and grabbed the blank ID card.

 

"I have a pencil on me, we can test Joker's plan without wasting the card," she said before writing "School Board" on the card, which promptly transformed with a puff of smoke into a very official-looking set of documents.

 

"This cognition stuff is absolute  _bullshit_ ," Skull said, summing up all the Phantom Thieves' feelings on what they had just seen.

 

"Well, let's see how it holds up," Joker said, and with that the Thieves returned to the school's entrance to gain entry "legitimately."

* * *

Sure enough, flashing their newly-acquired documents was enough to keep Shadows off the Phantom Thieves' backs. With nothing to do on the way to Takahashi's office but gawk at the halls, they had the time to take in the sights. There was almost no natural light, and the lights were all slightly too dim fluorescents buzzing over sterile floors and walls plastered over with signs bearing mottos such as "HEAR AND OBEY" or "SUBMIT TO YOUR BETTERS" and just narrow enough to feel confining. All of the Thieves felt themselves standing up straighter than normal, involuntarily swiveling their necks as they walked in a vain attempt to catch sight of the source of the ever-present whispers repeating what the teachers were saying.

 

"Was it always this bad in here?" Globe asked. "I don't remember it being like this before."

 

"I think all our fighting with the Shadows before kept us from noticing," Spider said.

 

"It feels like what I remember school being like more than what I know it's like," Oracle added.

 

"It  _is_ a touch Expressionist, isn't it?" Fox said, not that the others paid much attention.

 

Soon enough, the group returned to the door to Takahashi's office, where the two guards took a look at their documents and paled.

 

"Go right ahead, sir," they said to Joker, who shook his head.

 

"I'm sure Principal Takahashi is a busy man, so we'll give him some time to finish his business before seeing him. Just let him know to make time for us, would you?" he said.

 

The two Shadows nodded and shuffled off for parts unknown, and the Phantom Thieves walked out of sight to the nearest safe room.

 

Once in there, the group quickly decided to leave the Palace for the day, seeing how they'd secured a route to the likely location of the Treasure.

* * *

 

Once the group was out of the Metaverse and safely ensconced in the Niijima home away from prying eyes and ears, Morgana asked a question.

 

"How are we going to get a calling card to Takahashi? I don't think any of us can can get to his office without being stopped."

 

For several moments, the silence was tangible.

 

"I guess we'll have to get Ohya to help us?" Jun offered with a shrug.

 

"How do you plan on getting her help without revealing you're a Phantom Thief?" Futaba asked.

 

"It wouldn't be the first time someone figured it out," Jun said.

 

"WHAT?!?" the others shouted at him.

 

Jun put up his hands and spoke quickly. "You know about all the contacts I have, they're all pretty smart people and I'm kinda bad at subtlety, so a lot of them know I'm a Phantom Thief. I think I'm up to five now?"

 

"Do they know about us or just you?" Makoto asked.

 

"I  _think_ just me, but I can't be sure," Jun said.

 

Makoto sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're going to make sure they understand how important keeping your secret is-Actually, you're going to introduce us to all of them so they can see for themselves how much is depending on them, but that can happen later. Do you think we can trust Ohya?"

 

Jun nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah. She knows how to keep secrets. Comes with protecting your sources. You wanna meet up with her, I take it?"

 

"I think we'd better," Makoto said. "Especially if she's set to become our regular source for Palace owners."

 

"I can give her the Honorary Phantom Thief Badge Ryuji and I have been working on!" Mishima added. "So she'll really feel part of the team, you know?"

 

"Why were you-Never mind, it's not important," Makoto said.

 

"Right, I'll just set up a meeting, then," Jun said as he got out his phone.

 

_GangsterOfLove: Hey I got something to follow up on wrt our crime beat_

 

_HotScoop: Ok. You know where to find me rn._

 

Jun looked up from his phone and said, "All right, everyone, let's go induct our newest teammate."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else find it odd how all the Confidants end up figuring out that Joker's a Phantom Thief? Sure, he's not very subtle about it, but still. At least this time he's being proactive about it. I don't think you can actually get five Confidants to the max rank by July in-game without using New Game Plus, but Jun can do more than two things each day in this story so whatever.


	19. School Daze, Part 4

Crossroads was small to begin with, but fitting the entirety of the Phantom Thieves as well as Ohya in made the bar feel even more cramped. Once Jun explained the situation to Ohya, including not only that he and his friends were the Phantom Thieves but how they operated as well as a promise to take her to the Metaverse if she wanted to see for herself at some point, she massaged her forehead and took a sip of water before speaking.

 

"Dammit, Jun, I had my suspicions, but you didn't need to confirm 'em for me. And I know there's no way you're making it up, you know this whole thing sounds nuts."

 

"If it helps, Ms. Ohya, you'd be getting your boss off your back and helping to bring a lot of others to justice," Makoto said.

 

 

"That's not the point," Ohya said. "The point's that I'm helping you kids get killed the minute I send you the name of someone you can't handle." 

 

Ohya leaned back in her chair to stare at the ceiling.

 

"My boss is one thing, but any of the  _real_ bigshots you'd wanna target? They'd gut you like it was nothing. And I should know, it happened to my old partner. Yeah, you kids have literal magic, but still. There's always a bigger fish and all."

 

"We get stronger over time, actually," Futaba said. "It's real video game-y."

 

"Yeah, and I don't wanna point you to the guy at the end when you're still at the start," Ohya said.

 

"We know how to tell when things are too dangerous for us," Makoto said. "That's Futaba's whole role, scoping out enemies."

 

"You got an answer for everything, doncha?" Ohya said. "Guess this is what having kids feels like."

 

She sighed.

 

"Fine, since you've got this whole thing wrapped up, I guess I can help you out. I always did want to make a difference. Looks like your friends can remind me how it feels to be young too, Jun."

 

Jun pumped his fist with a muttered "All right" while Mishima fished a button out of his pocket and handed it to Ohya.

 

"Since you're part of the team now but don't have a Persona, we made you this button so you still have something special," he explained.

 

"Eh, thanks," she said as she pocketed the button.

 

"Okay," Ryuji said. "Let's get to work on that calling card."

* * *

The next day, Ohya went to the _Daily News_  headquarters earlier than usual for her, holding a bundle of postcards in gloved hands. As she snaked through the empty, too-narrow corridors of the building, she smiled to herself. Soon, the life would come back into this place as it turned back into the kind of place a newspaper office was supposed to be. Soon enough, she came to the door marked  _Seijiro Takahashi, Editor-in-Chief_. A quick check confirmed that no one was around or in the office, and she immediately began covering the door in postcards. Once done, Ohya took off her gloves and walked out so she could come in at her usual time. She chuckled to herself at the thought of the wake-up call that miserable bastard Takahashi was about to get.

 

_To Seijiro Takahashi, the man of pride_

_You have twisted your newspaper from a storehouse of truth_

_into a hub of lies and deceit in the name of teaching people_

_to follow your personal agenda. We will steal your evil desires_

_and make you confess to all your crimes for everyone to hear._

_Sincerely, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do Japanese newspaper headquarters have special offices for their editors with clearly marked doors? If they don't, let me know and I'll edit the last part so it matches the reality better. Also, did you know that Amanda Winn Lee, the voice actress who plays Ohya in the English version of Persona 5, also played one of the main cast of Persona 4 and has a youtube series called A Mom's Guide to Cannabis? I learned that today.


	20. School Daze, Part 5

Time passed quickly, and the Phantom Thieves soon received a simple message from Ohya.

 

_HotScoop: He saw it. I'll be waiting._

 

The rest of the day passed quickly after that, sped along by a combination of anxiety and anticipation. Soon, very soon, the name of the Phantom Thieves would be on everyone's lips, and hopefully it would be for changing an important man's heart rather than for killing him. All the imagining in the world of what might happen couldn't change the passage of time, though, and soon enough it was time for them to go in.

 

Joker checked his set of getting-past-Shadows documents. Sure enough, they'd changed from the form they'd taken in the real world, an ID card with "School Board" written on it, back to the extremely official-looking papers the group needed. Then he took in the Palace itself. It seemed that receiving a calling card had caused Takahashi a good deal of stress. The school's hallways were even more narrow than before, the incandescent lights were dimmer and buzzed with greater volume, and the whispers were somehow more omnipresent. The Phantom Thieves hurried on to the principal's office, looking all over for anything and jumping at the smallest sound. At last, they made it to the office, which had no Shadows standing in front of it, so Joker kicked open the door.

 

"What's up, numbnuts? It's the school board again! Give up your Treasure and we'll consider forgoing your scheduled ass-kicking."

 

Takahashi's Shadow looked up from the paperwork he was filling out and said with a tone that could cut diamonds, "Oh, it's you lot again. Very well, if you're so determined to fight me, I'll teach you not to cross your betters!"

 

With that, the Shadow rose up and flipped his desk over, which went tumbling out of the room. He drew a katana that looked like an oversized pen and rushed Joker, who was flattened.

 

"Ow," he forced out.

 

While Mona healed Joker, Spider brought out his Persona and had it give the Shadow a solid pummeling. Unfortunately, he could take it as well as he dished it out and barely noticed the attack. All the Phantom Thieves but Joker Oracle tried attacking Takahashi with their Personas, but none of them had a magic that did anything more than briefly faze him, and physical attacks meant even less.

 

"Joker, do you have anything that we haven't tried already?" Shock asked him once he was coherent.

 

Joker tapped his head for a few moments and said, "Yeah, that Shadow I recruited the other time we were here. Come out, Kaiwan!"

 

Kaiwan proved to have just the right kind of magic to throw Shadow Takahashi off his game. A few blows had the Shadow down on the floor, where the whole group ganged up on him and gave him the hardest beating they could manage. He didn't look to have much fight in him after that, but still he got to his feet and transformed into his true form.

 

Seijiro Astaroth Takahashi stood before the Phantom Thieves, naked but for a crown on his head and holding a snake in his right hand. His wings were almost as tall as he was, and his gaze dug holes in the floor. He roared a challenge to his enemies, and they responded by joining the battle once more.

 

Oracle scanned their foe's new form from within the confines of Necronomicon and noticed something.

 

"Guys, his wings aren't a weak point, they've got more armor than the rest of him! He wants you to hit them!" she told them.

 

"Understood, Oracle," Shock said. "What weaknesses does he have?"

 

"I don't know yet," came her answer. "Give me a few minutes to do some more scans."

 

"I've got some ideas," Spider said as he unloaded his gun into the snake's head.

 

The snake burst with a noise louder than a bomb going off. Everyone was paralyzed by the sound save Oracle, protected by the shielding of her Persona's cockpit. With all the speed she had, she directed Necronomicon to retrieve the desk that Takahashi had thrown away earlier and break it over the head of the Shadow, who looked to be recovering faster than his opponents. With the time that bought her, Oracle proceeded to use all the helpful magic she had on her teammates. Getting up just before before Takahashi could regain his bearings, they proceeded to put their all into attacking him once more. Only this time, Oracle had Necronomicon grab two of the larger splinters of Takahashi's desk and impale the Shadow's wings with them, pinning him in place with twin fountains of blood and Shadow-ichor.

 

After that, it was only a matter of time until the Phantom Thieves won. Exhausted by the fight, they wasted no time grabbing the Treasure and hightailing it out of there in the Monamobile, paying no heed to the damage they were doing to the already collapsing Palace. As they left, they paid no mind to how Shadow Takahashi had told them about his "powerful friends."

* * *

A few days later, the Phantom Thieves received another text message from Ohya. It included a picture of her smirking and giving a thumbs-up while holding a copy of the  _Daily News_ that had been opened to a lengthy editorial with the headline "An Apology To The Readers." Under the picture she had written two simple words.

 

_Mission accomplished._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Astaroth is a demon mentioned in the Ars Goetia who tempts people to sin with laziness, vanity, and rationalizations. He also looks pretty much like Shadow Takahashi's final form. Also, does anybody else wish that Futaba did stuff during fights besides provide buffs and commentary? Necronomicon's tentacles can clearly grab things, considering that they pick Futaba up when she first summons it, so she could use them to throw enemies around or something. And lastly, if anyone was curious, Spider's (Mishima's) Persona is Spider-Man, which I swear I actually have reasons for, and Kaiwan is indeed a Persona that exists in-game. It has Psy magic and doesn't actually show up until the Palace after Futaba's. Since Takahashi's Palace is the one after Futaba's in this story, I thought it fit.


	21. Aftershocks

Robbing a Palace was usually cause for celebration, and this time was no exception. Unfortunately, Takahashi's Treasure was nothing more than an official notification of his promotion to editor-in-chief of his paper, so the Phantom Thieves weren't in possession of enough funds to have a big party or anything special. Jun did carry around an obscene amount of cash obtained from defeating Shadows, but that was money for getting supplies, and he wasn't going to spend it on a party for fear of his teammates' anger. And so, the Phantom Thieves found themselves hanging out in Crossroads with Ohya once again. At least this time Lala was giving them a choice between water and orange juice.

 

The celebration began with a round of toasts to the group's success and Ohya's assistance, then she got a recounting of what happened inside Takahashi's Palace. She frowned at the recap of the Shadow's parting words.

 

"I really wish you could've asked him who he meant, those friends of his could be anyone," she said.

 

"Yeah, feels like he was being mysterious just to mess with us. Got the same feeling from Madarame with that 'Black Mask' stuff," Ryuji said.

 

Ohya's gaze sharpened into focus on Ryuji.

 

"What're you talking about? This is the first time I've heard about a 'Black Mask' from you."

 

"When we beat Madarame's Shadow, he mentioned something about another person who could go into the Metaverse and wore a black mask," Mishima answered. "I think it's got something to do with the mental shutdowns. The Shadow sounded like he thought the person with the black mask was going to kill him, and I could see that causing a mental shutdown in the real Madarame."

 

Ohya put a hand to her chin and hummed as she leaned forward in her chair.

 

"Who'd wanna get rid of Madarame, though? He's just some artist. One who made a lot of money, sure, but I've never heard a hint of him having connections with gangs or anything. The man wasn't squeaky clean, but he also wasn't a loose end for anyone."

 

"I don't think that's the important thing right now," Makoto said. "I'm more worried about the fact that someone's running around the Metaverse causing mental shutdowns."

 

"You've got a point," Ohya said. "I'll see if I can't dig anything up about that. Jeez, this party's getting heavy, let's get back to celebrating already!"

 

And so they did. Then a convenient news broadcast came on, commanding everyone's attention.

 

"The case of Seijiro Takahashi continues to develop today as the owners of the  _Daily News_ have just announced that they have accepted his resignation. For those viewers who were unaware, Takahashi is the now former editor-in-chief of the  _Daily News_ who recently admitted to orchestrating a long campaign of shifting the newspaper's editorial line to advance his personal goals, including firing newspaper staff without just cause. Our sources within the paper's staff report that a few days before his confession, Takahashi received a calling card from the same 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' that claimed responsibility for coercing the artist Ichiryusai Madarame into announcing in June that all his works were plagiarized from his own students. The police have declined to comment on this affair, and Takahashi could not be reached for comment. His wife has told us that he has chosen to isolate himself from the world and refuses to leave his home. Further developments will be reported as they occur. And now, the weather."

 

Mishima pulled out his phone and thumbed through the Phan-Site.

 

"Oh, wow," he said. "The posts are really flooding in now. Looks like a lot of people are confused about why the Phantom Thieves picked a newspaperman to go after this time. There's also a lot of people who sound like adults that just heard about the Thieves from the news and...well, you know how Internet posts are."

 

"Love us or hate us, no in between?" Futaba said.

 

Mishima nodded.

 

Ryuji shrugged and said, "As long as there's more love than hate, it's all good. Means we're doing our job, right?"

 

"Yeah, yeah! People liking us means we're giving them hope. Good way to put it, Ryuji," Ann said.

 

Soon enough, the conversation turned to more mundane topics and eventually died out. Everyone left Crossroads to go home, except for Ohya. She ambled over to the bar and ordered a proper drink.

 

"You're not gonna snitch, right?" she asked Lala, who raised an eyebrow.

 

"It's Shinjuku, you know I won't say a word about who comes in or what they do."

 

Ohya nodded and said, "All right, just checking. This is a bit different from the secrets you usually keep."

 

Lala chuckled. "That's an understatement if I ever heard one. So, how's the new boss?"

 

Ohya groaned and slumped over the bar. "Don't get me started."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A benefit of having a journalist on your team is getting to follow up on plot threads you'd otherwise have to wait until the end for. Ohya's got a lot of off-the-record investigating to do now, but at least this is something she can justify to her boss. After all, mental shutdowns are strangely similar to changes of heart. Even someone who doesn't believe in magic can connect the dots. Sae does in-game after all, so why can't Ohya?


	22. Chapter 22

Futaba wasn't sure what to do when Ryuji had sent her a text asking if they could hang out. Sure, she'd spent time with him before, but that'd always been with other people around. Just the two of them? That was uncharted territory. Still, Ryuji seemed like a pretty solid guy, if way louder than he needed to be, so Futaba decided to give it a whack.

 

And so, the two met up at Leblanc and spent a few minutes in a booth silently staring at each other before Futaba broke the silence.

 

"Why'd you wanna hang out with me anyway? You've got everyone else, they've gotta be more interesting than me."

 

Ryuji looked off to the side and scratched his head while saying, "Well, I figured we have all the same friends, we might as well be friends too, right? And we're both into retro games, so it's not like we've got nothin' to talk about."

 

"Uh huh," Futaba said with all the dryness of a desert.

 

"Makoto mighta asked us all to try hangin' out with you more too," he admitted.

 

Futaba sighed. "I know she's just trying to help, but this is too much."

 

Ryuji nodded and said, "I'm with ya there, but not much you can do about it right now, so how bout we go raid Jun's game stash and figure out a plan for Makoto?"

 

"Sure, why not?" Futaba said with a shrug.

 

And so, the two of them entered Leblanc's attic, which was fortunately empty of Jun, who was busy spending time with his various contacts. They quickly set up Jun's salvaged Super Famicom and got to playing Power Instinct. Soon enough, they were sufficiently in the zone to carry on a conversation while playing.

 

"So, what is it exactly you're mad about?" Ryuji asked as he set up a combo.

 

Futaba waited to get some hits in before saying, "Mostly how she asked you guys to spend time with me. Like I can't do anything myself and she has to do it for me. I don't want a mommy gf, just a regular one."

 

Ryuji sputtered, allowing Futaba to follow up on her attack and win the round. He glared at her.

 

"That was a cheap trick."

 

Futaba paused her chuckling to say, "Mind games are a real part of fighting games. It's called yomi, look it up."

 

Ryuji grumbled and said, "Awright, awright, so you don't like Makoto being all mom-ish. Where do we go from there?"

 

Futaba hummed and didn't say anything for the next couple rounds. Finally, she said, "I have no clue."

 

"Yeah, I had a feeling. 'S hard to tell a friend ya don't like what they're doing, but sometimes ya gotta anyway," Ryuji said.

 

"Yeah, and now that I've gotta, I'm too nervous," Futaba said with a sigh.

 

"I know how it is," Ryuji said. "My old teammates were putting the track team back together a couple months ago but the teacher in charge was just using 'em to look good. I had to say somethin', but I didn't til Jun lit a fire under my ass. That's just how it is sometimes, y'know?"

 

Neither said anything after that for a while, just continuing to play the game. Eventually, things wound down, and as they were putting everything away, Futaba spoke up.

 

"Thanks for listening, Ryuji. I needed to get that off my chest."

 

Ryuji waved her off. "Ah, don't mention it. It'd be pretty low of me not to lend an ear, y'know?"

 

"A lot of people are pretty low," Futaba said. "I'm glad you're not. Let's hang out again some time, I can finish schooling you."

 

Ryuji snorted. "You call those cheap shots schooling me? Let's switch to Guilty Gear, I'll show you real skill."

 

Futaba laughed and followed Ryuji down Leblanc's stairs and out the door.

 

"Sure thing, buddy. I'll see you around."

 

Ryuji smiled.

 

"See you later, Futaba. It's been fun."

 

With that, Ryuji left for his home, and Futaba left for hers, both of them thinking,  _I think I've got a new friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Super Famicom, for those who don't know, is a 1990s video game console that's known in America as the Super Nintendo, and Power Instinct is an actual fighting game released on it. The retro console that appears in-game is a pretty obvious reference to the Super Nintendo, and one of the games you can play, with Futaba even, is a reference to Power Instinct. I'm not making any money off this story, so I can just include the stuff being referenced in place of the parody names Atlus has to use to avoid lawsuits. Also, does anyone else find it funny that in the opening of the game Ryuji calls Yusuke by the nickname Futaba uses for the lobster boy? I feel like the writers might have planned to have Ryuji and Futaba be friends but didn't follow through on it.


	23. Talking Things Out

Makoto wasn't sure what to make of the message Futaba sent her.  _We need to talk meet me at my place_ didn't offer much to go on. With no little trepidation, Makoto knocked on the Sakura house's door.

 

"Futaba, it's Makoto," she called out.

 

After a moment, the door was opened to reveal Futaba with an expression that was so calm Makoto couldn't believe it was anything but artificial and a spine so stiff it could be used for a level. Makoto followed her to a set of chairs facing each other, and they both took a seat.

 

Futaba held up a hand before Makoto could ask what this was about and said, "I spent a couple hours going through articles about how to talk out problems with your partner and figuring out how to say all this, so I need you to wait til I'm finished talking before you say anything."

 

"All right," Makoto said with a face serious enough to match Futaba's. If she'd put that much thought into this, Makoto wouldn't insult her effort by interrupting, especially when Futaba was bringing up a problem she had. Letting trouble linger long enough to ruin their relationship was a distasteful thought, to say the least.

 

Futaba took a breath and wrung her hands before she started speaking.

 

"So I heard from Ryuji about how you asked everyone to try to spend time with me. I get that you were trying to help me, but you didn't ask if I wanted that help, and that comes across to me like you don't trust my ability to make friends on my own. That's...not a hundred percent wrong, but you know I want to get better about it, and you always holding my hand doesn't help me improve. That 'I'm not mad just disappointed' line is actually kinda true here, cause I'm not really that mad. I get where you were coming from, I barely even count as a work in progress, of course you'd wanna try and speed things along. Just, next time you get an idea to help me like that, ask first, okay?"

 

Makoto sat motionless, hands in her lap, turning over Futaba's words in her head. There wasn't any fault she could find with them. Futaba  _had_ told her that she wanted to get better at socializing, and Makoto had unilaterally taken away an opportunity to do so. Futaba certainly had a right to be much more angry than she was, considering how blatantly Makoto had ignored her wishes. There wasn't anything for it but to apologize and do as Futaba asked.

 

"Thank you, Futaba," she said after a long while. "You're being more patient with me than I could expect. I'll be sure to get your okay the next time I want to do something to help you in your social training. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know."

 

Futaba's spine returned to its usual slouch, and her face regained its customary looseness.

 

"I'll think about it," she said, a hint of a smile pulling on her lips.

 

Now it was Makoto's turn to relax her face and posture.

 

"I'm glad we were able to talk this out calmly," she said. "Since we're together, do you want to do something?"

 

Futaba hummed for a moment before saying, "Sure, let's play some Portal co-op. I'm feeling nostalgic."

 

Makoto nodded. "I haven't played that game, what's it about?"

 

Futaba grinned. "I'll let you see for yourself."

 

And so, Makoto got a crash course in thinking with portals, Futaba got a crash course in playing couch co-op, and a good time was had by all. Eventually, the time for Makoto to go back home.

 

"Thanks, Futaba," she said before she left. "For everything."

 

"I could say the same to you," Futaba said.

 

With one last smile, Makoto turned to leave, only to get caught in a hug by Futaba.

 

"You mean so much to me," Futaba said into Makoto's back.

 

Makoto turned around to return the hug and said, "I could say the same to you."

 

Eventually, they parted. Makoto hesitated, turned, and left. Futaba watched her leave, her gaze fixed in the same direction long after Makoto had vanished from sight. Finally, she closed the door and went back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Futaba's tarot card, the Hermit, represents isolation and introspection as well as the usual meaning of the wisdom needed for guiding others. Thus, she's honest with herself about her failings and how maybe she's not working on them as much as she could be. Makoto's tarot card, the High Priestess, represents wisdom and hidden knowledge in addition to the more common meanings of magic and feminine mystique. Thus, she accepts the possibility that she can make mistakes and is willing to try and make up for them. Both of them have connections to wisdom, and wisdom includes knowing you're as much of a screw-up as anyone is, so I can't imagine either one going "I won't try to talk out my relationship problems."


	24. Meet And Greet

July continued on, and eventually August began to loom over the horizon. Jun had finally gotten together all of his contacts who knew of his secret identity and introduced them to his fellow Phantom Thieves and each other, though nothing much came of it, since none of those people had much in common with anyone else besides a connection to Jun, though the revelation that one of their teachers knew about their "extracurricular activities" threw off the Shujin-attending Phantom Thieves. Still, not much else noteworthy happened for some time. Hangouts were had, people's Shadows were targeted in Mementos, and Jun built up more relationships with useful and/or interesting people. Then, the hacktivist group Medjed declared war on the Phantom Thieves.

 

The Phantom Thieves heard about this from a text message sent by Ann.

 

_DistantCackling: Bad news guys_

_DistantCackling: That medjed hacker gang just announced they're going after the phantom thieves_

_DistantCackling: They say anyone who supports the phantom thieves is gonna get their stuff stolen at the end of the month. Or something. I'm not a hundred percent sure about the words they used cause the website's in english. Also I think they're going after all of japan? Whatever it is I think it's gonna be bad for a lot of people._

 

The other Thieves' response was swift.

 

_NiMakoto: Could they be planning to target bank accounts?_

 

_Tigressofjapan: Stock market's my bet. Easy enough to crash it nowadays._

 

_YaBoyRyuji: ah shit what do we do?_

_YaBoyRyuji: we don't even have an actual name_

_YaBoyRyuji: ohya do you know who's in medjed?_

 

_WebMaster: I'd suggest asking Futaba. She's the computer stuff expert, tbh._

 

_HotScoop: He's right, I don't know a damn thing about Medjed except that they take responsibility for a shitload of cyberattacks all the damn time._ _You want anything useful, hacker girl's your best bet._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Easy enough. I can get these posers offline by this time next week. Ya want me to put their names online too?_

 

_GangsterOfLove: "Posers"?_

 

_Tigressofjapan: Ya know how medjed used to be all robin hood but now they arent? Thats cause i started the gang but had to leave after what happened with my mom. Some randos took over the name in the meantime and ruined the image. Never felt like doing something about em but i guess nows a good time._

 

_HotScoop: Put up the names, may as well take care of them permanently._

 

_GangsterOfLove: Yeah, I don't see why not. Seems appropriate for someone targeting the phantom thieves to have to own up to their crimes._

 

_Tigressofjapan: Anyone else got an opinion?_

_Tigressofjapan: Okay then see yall next week. Itd be sooner but makoto asked me to sleep regularly._

 

_NiMakoto: You told me to ask you so you'd be more motivated._

 

_Tigressofjapan: This is true. Anyway gotta get to work. o7_

 

_GangsterOfLove: o7_

 

_YaBoyRyuji: o7_

 

And so, Futaba holed up in her hacker cave to rain justice down on people's heads. In other words, business as usual.

* * *

Over the next few days, Futaba worked furiously yet responsibly on "SuperUltraMedjedDestroyingCombo.exe", as she called the bundle of code that was going to defeat Medjed once and for all. Fortunately for her, the current incarnation of Medjed didn't include any hackers with as much experience as someone who'd been coding almost constantly for ten years, so she spent far less time on the project than expected. The clowns didn't even hide their IP addresses. Getting rid of incompetents like these honestly did the world a favor. Soon enough, Futaba finished her programming and set it to work before sending her teammates a message.

 

_Tigressofjapan: I have lain the smackdown on their candy asses._

 

All of the Phantom Thieves immediately brought up Medjed's website, only to find a picture of their group's logo above a list of names that ended with the English words "These are the members of Medjed. The Phantom Thieves have stolen their desire for anonymity, and their hearts will change soon now that they must face consequences for their actions."

 

As the day went on, more and more people saw that message, and the world was burning with a single question:  _What will these Phantom Thieves do next?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those curious, the list of people who know about Jun and friends is: Ohya, Takemi, Iwai, Chihaya, Yoshida (whose confidant ended a bit differently in this story), and Kawakami. Jun basically started with max Guts and Charm and a lot of free time, so he was able to do certain confidants pretty quickly. He's also pretty far along in most party members' confidants, but the stat requirements for Makoto and Futaba are giving him trouble. Also, Ann's screen name is a reference to her fondness for female villains and their tendency to cackle. Futaba's "o7" is a salute emoticon if it wasn't clear, and her "laying the smackdown" line is a catchphrase that Dwayne The Rock Johnson used when he was a wrestler. Futaba wrote the message on Medjed's site in English (with help from Ann and Makoto) so that it would reach as many people as possible.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets into serious spoiler territory. If you don't want to have some of the major surprises of Persona 5 spoiled for you, don't read this chapter.

With the Phantom Thieves now receiving worldwide attention, they quickly found themselves swamped with requests from people all over the globe. Unfortunately, it seemed the Meta-Nav did not allow them to find targets outside of Japan, much to their fans' disappointment as only Japanese requests found any response. A few especially busy weeks went by as Futaba and Mishima struggled to cope with the increased volume of activity on the Phan-Site and the rest of the group found themselves in Mementos for much of the day every day of the week. Then, Ohya called for a meeting, saying that she'd found something big. And so, Crossroads found itself stuffed to the gills with people.

 

"Okay, here's the thing," Ohya started once everyone was seated. "You know I've been looking into the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns for you. Well, turns out they started around two years ago, or at least that's the first time anyone noticed 'em, since  _that's_ when that 'Detective Prince' kid Akechi started getting noticed for solving crimes and he had a decent number of catches over the course of about a year before the cops noticed that Akechi kept getting mixed up in the shutdowns and breakdowns and hired him to have an easier time investigating 'em. Even cases that _don't_ start with someone going off the deep end or blanking out have it happen once Akechi comes in, and he's called in for every single case that does start off with a shutdown or breakdown."

 

Ohya paused to take a sip of her drink then continued.

 

"Now, I dunno about you, but that smells real funny to me. So I did some digging into who all the victims were. Turns out a ton of 'em were people with money or connections, and most of the rest did something for one bigshot or another by getting caught, _especially_ after Akechi got hired by the cops. Hell, Akechi's boss in the Tokyo PD got his job thanks to the last guy having a breakdown, and even that subway accident back in April with the engineer who had a shutdown got a cabinet member fired. So the way I see it, if the shutdowns and breakdowns _are_ being caused by your 'Black Mask" character, the guy's probably a hitman for someone big, and Akechi's probably in on the cover-up somehow. Why they're bringing a kid in to be their cleaner, I dunno. Maybe cause it's less suspicious?"

 

Ohya shrugged. Morgana processed her words for a moment before a light bulb went on over his head.

 

"Akechi  _has_ to be a Persona user!" he shouted. "He could be the Black Mask!"

 

"What's the cat going on about?" Ohya asked. She hadn't taken Jun up on his offer to go to the Metaverse and still heard cat noises from Morgana despite knowing he could speak.

 

Jun said, "He thinks Akechi might actually be the Black Mask, not that he's explained why yet."

 

Morgana explained, with Jun repeating his words Ohya's benefit.

 

"When we ran into Akechi at the TV station, he asked if you guys were talking about pancakes, but I was the only one who actually said that word. He had to have heard me talking, and there's no way he could have unless he'd already been to the Metaverse. And if he's been to the Metaverse, chances are he has a Persona. It's too difficult to survive there without one. That would give him a way to fight Shadows, and something tells me killing a Shadow is what causes the mental shutdowns. It wouldn't be far-fetched for his Persona to have a way to cause the psychotic breakdowns too, Personas have all kinds of magic, after all."

 

"You think he's had a Persona for two years now? He's got to be a lot stronger than us, then," Mishima said.

 

Futaba suddenly started and shouted, "That bastard!"

 

Everyone turned to look at her, and after visibly calming herself, she said, "I just remembered, my mom died about a year ago, and I'm pretty sure it was a psychotic breakdown. If Akechi's the one causing them, I can't rest til he and whoever he's working with pay for ruining my life."

 

Ohya cocked her head and asked, "Who was your mom? I don't remember a woman named Sakura in the list of breakdown cases."

 

"Probably because her name was Isshiki," Futaba said. "Wakaba Isshiki. She did research for the government, something about brains, but I'm not sure what. Mom didn't tell me a lot about what she did. Sojiro might know, he was close to her."

 

"Why do I get the feeling it'll turn out to be a big piece of the puzzle?" Jun asked.

 

"Cause you've picked up my instincts," Ohya said. "Akechi gets hired by the cops right around when a woman researching brain stuff dies and her daughter's browbeaten into becoming a shut-in? That's got conspiracy shenanigans written all over it once you remember that all this Metaverse crap is technically brain stuff."

 

"Okay, so if Akechi's the Black Mask and part of some big conspiracy, what the hell do we do about it?" Ryuji asked.

 

Jun smiled beatifically and said, "Attack the conspiracy, of course."

 

Ohya nodded.

 

"Couldn't put it better myself. You'll need more info on who's involved, and that's not happening without forcing these people to make a move. Better put your nose to the grindstone, kids, you've got Palaces to find."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The problem with mystery stories is getting it to make sense how the characters have figured it out. Hopefully I've done an okay job of it here. If you're reading this chapter, you presumably know the plot twists of Persona 5, so I'm gonna discuss them to explain why I've had our heroes figure out the identity of a major antagonist this early on. 
> 
> Sae, who investigates the shutdowns and breakdowns in-game, doesn't seem to know about the Metaverse until maybe October, so she's probably assuming that they're caused by people using conventional tools if they're caused by a malicious actor at all. In this story, Ohya knows about the Metaverse in July and suspects that it's how the shutdowns and breakdowns are happening, so she subconsciously expects a teenager to be causing them because all the Metaverse users she knows are teens. 
> 
> That Akechi really is the Metaverse-using hitman for a conspiracy means that he has to be doing something to benefit its members many if not most or all of the times he takes someone out, and that has to be noticeable if you look carefully enough. I assume Sae was kept busy by her boss somehow to keep her from noticing. I also assume the Conspiracy really got underway after Wakaba's research was safely in their hands after her death, and thus Akechi would be acting according to that telltale pattern of benefiting important people more so after her death. 
> 
> The details of the SIU director getting his position due to Akechi's actions and the general trajectory of Akechi's career are my own invention as far as I know, but I think they're reasonable. The way that Morgana figures out that Akechi's a Persona user is from the original game. He's even the one who figures it out, if I recall correctly. He's just been prompted to remember Akechi's slip-up earlier than in-game thanks to Ohya mentioning that she thinks Akechi is A-sketchy.


	26. Meanderings In Mementos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block is demolishing me, so here's some Mementos dialogues that a player might hear if this story was a mod of the original game.

**Mishima:** Wow, it's roomy in here. Echo, echo, echo!

**Makoto:** Aren't you supposed to let the sound fade out on its own instead of lowering your volume?

 

**Makoto:** What's a good date spot for people like us?

**Ryuji:** Honestly, I'd say either of you guys' houses. Nowhere else'd be quiet enough.

 

**Yusuke:**  Does anyone know how to find remotes? I lost mine.

**Mishima:** Lost stuff usually turns up in the last place you look.

 

**Makoto:** Oracle, do you want to see that "Like A Dragon" movie?

**Futaba:**  Ugh, spare me. There's no such thing as a good video game movie.

 

**Mishima:** Do you think the Phan-Site needs more moderators?

**Futaba:**  If we can trust 'em, why not?

 

**Ann:** Maybe it's a good thing Ohya doesn't want to come here.

**Morgana:**  Joker will just have to convince her. I want to speak with as many people as possible!

 

**Mishima:** Mona, why do you turn into a van and not a different kind of car?

**Morgana:** If I knew that, I'd find a way to turn into a limousine instead!

 

**Ann** **:** I'm so glad this outfit isn't form-fitting. Oh, sorry, Shock

**Makoto:**  I honestly don't mind. This outfit's not nearly as revealing as it could be.

 

**Ryuji:** I need salt. Somethin' saaaaalty.

**Mishima:** Good thing I brought snacks today!

 

**Ryuji:** Is it weird dating when one of you's a hacker and the other's a cop's sister?

**Futaba:** I'm working her over. She'll be a criminal soon enough.

**OR**

**Ryuji:** Is it weird dating when of you's a hacker and the other's a cop's sister?

**Makoto:** Futaba's a hacker for justice, so it's okay.

 

**Mishima:** What's up with the tail, Fox? Are you a furry?

**Yusuke:** I don't know what you mean.

 

**Yusuke:** The other day I was asked to draw for something called a "doujinshi."

**Makoto:** Make sure you know what the subject is before you make a decision about it.

 

**Mishima:** Joker's got so many Personas, what's that do to your head?

**Ryuji:** Eh, probably nothing bad if he's gone this long without cracking.

 

**Mishima:** How fast can you go, Mona?

**Morgana:** I don't know, but I'm ready to find out!

 

**Ryuji:** Hey, any of you guys wanna hang out later?

**Futaba:** Sure, sounds good.

**Or**

**Ryuji:** Hey, any of you guys wanna hang out later?

**Yusuke:** Certainly, I'm in need of some new creative stimulus.

 

**Mishima:** Driving around this place in Mona reminds me of watching the rain from my window.

**Makoto:** I think you're the only one who finds these trips soothing, Spider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not much, but I figured it was better to put something up than get into a habit of not writing. Some of these are references to or reworkings of dialogues from the original game, but I tried to keep that to a minimum.


	27. A Notice To The Readers

Due to a combination of writer's block and a general lack of engagement from readers, I'm putting this story on hiatus. I don't know when (if ever) I'll continue this story, but I would like to finish it properly one day. Until then, though, this is the end. If you liked this story, I might be writing others in the future, so watch out for that. Thank you, and goodbye for now.


End file.
